Mental health fundraiser tonight
By Brandon Davis
Published in News on August 12, 2016 1:46 PM
ClientFirst Behavioral Health and Piedmont Natural Gas will host the first Lip Syncing for a Voice event at the Paramount Theatre tonight at 7 p.m. to raise money for the Mental Health Association in Wayne County.
Tickets are $15.
Performers such as Julie Beck, Becky Craig, Kate Daniels, Geoff Hulse, Erin Fonseca, Octavius Murphy, Wayne Alley, Kirk Keller and Jeff Farrow will put on a lip syncing battle to symbolize the need for people to talk about depression, anxiety, addictions, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts.
Licensed Professional Counselor Gena Phillips and office manager Carolyn Wice of ClientFirst developed "Stop the Whispers" in February -- not knowing it would snowball into a lip syncing event -- for people to speak up about mental illness rather than whisper around those needing mental health services.
Mrs. Phillips said a suicide survivor and one of the lip syncing performers will share stories about mental illness and the silence around it.
"Our goal, if we can touch one person in our meeting, is to hear, 'I'm glad you shared your story. It sounds like mine'," Mrs. Wice said.
A person in an elephant costume will appear at the event, representing those who avoid people with mental illness as if there is an elephant in the room, according to Mrs. Phillips.
Emily Peacock, who is president of the board of directors with the Mental Health Association believes the Lip Syncing for a Voice event will speak to people about the treatment mental health services can provide.
"The stigma related to mental illness continues," Mrs. Peacock said. "But we need to improve our resources and reaching out to people who are needing treatment and resources. So we're continuing to try to do that.
"So 'Stop the Whispers' helps us with that promotion of recognizing the needs for mental health services."