Disability Unsealed

In his month's episode, MacKenzie sits down with Easterseals Louisiana Support Coordinator, Peyton Britt, to talk about her journey to and work at Easterseals Louisiana. Learn more about Support Coordination, Earlysteps, or positions available near you at laeasterseals.com._____Let's be social! Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on all things ESL! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EasterSealsLouisianaTwitter: https://twitter.com/LAEasterSealsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/eastersealslouisiana/LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/easterseals-louisiana/

In his month's episode, MacKenzie sits down with ESL VP of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships, Matthew Wallace,  to talk about his work at Easterseals Louisiana. We will also talk about the work ESL has done with the Louisiana Legislative System to advocate for those with disabilities in policy making initiatives. For more information on the Louisiana State Legislature and recent policy that may affect the disability community, please visit: legis.la.govYou can also email Matthew Wallace at mwallace@laeasterseals.com if you are interested in becoming an active advocate for disability rights in Louisiana. To learn more about Easterseals National Advocacy, please visit: easterseals.com/get-involved/advocacy/_____Let's be social! Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on all things ESL! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EasterSealsLouisianaTwitter: https://twitter.com/LAEasterSealsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/eastersealslouisiana/LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/easterseals-louisiana/

In his month's episode, MacKenzie sits down with ESL President & CEO, Tracy Garner to talk about her work at Easterseals Louisiana. We will also talk about the history of ESL and our programs in celebration of our 70th Anniversary of services in Louisiana. Learn more about where we are going in the future and listen now!_____Let's be social! Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on all things ESL! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EasterSealsLouisianaTwitter: https://twitter.com/LAEasterSealsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/eastersealslouisiana/LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/easterseals-louisiana/

May is Mental Health Awareness Month! In our Disability Unsealed episode this month, we chatted with ESL Vice President and Clinical Director about our current Behavioral Health Programs and the future impact ESL will have in the Behavioral Health community in Louisiana. Check it out now!______Mental Health Resources  and Info:There is absolutely nothing wrong with starting with a GP or a family physician to start on the path of dealing with a mental health issue. The key is in someone being willing to be open enough to discuss an issue like that with their doctor.For people with commercial insurance, there are numbers that can be called with their carriers that will help them to identify what type of service/doctor is needed, and they will provide referrals to people/entities that carry their insurance. Start by calling the info number on the back of your insurance card. For people with no insurance, the state (Louisiana) is broken into 10 districts, and each district has entities called Limited Government Entities (LGEs). The LGEs exist to provide services for uninsured people. Examples of LGEs are Metropolitan Human Services District in New Orleans, Jefferson Parish Human Services Authority serving Jefferson Parish, Florida Parishes Human Services District serving the Northshore, etc. Here is the contact info for their different regional offices: https://ldh.la.gov/index.cfm/directory/category/100There are also entities that provide linkages to services that people can access via telephone or the internet. One is called ViaLink (https://vialink.org/) and another is the 211 system (https://www.louisiana211.org/). There are also Nationwide resources you can use in crisis or if you still don't know where to start: Mental Health First Aid: https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/mental-health-resources/Suicide Prevention Line: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/And some links to other articles you may find helpful in managing your mental health daily:https://www.insider.com/mental-health-awareness-monthhttps://www.mentalhealthishealth.us/?utm_source=search-ad&utm_medium=other&utm_campaign=mayhttps://fenwayhealth.org/the-importance-of-mental-health-awareness-month/

Welcome to the very first episode of Disability Unsealed! In this series we hope to learn from one another by sharing stories. These will be the stories of ESL team members and their jobs, ESL participants and other people in the disability community. We truly believe that storytelling is such an integral part of us learning and understanding life from other perspectives so we are very excited about this new project and we hope you are too. In this episode, we will be chatting with Easterseals Louisiana Support Coordinator and participant mom, Summer Stevenson. Summer will talk to us more about her work as an ESL Support Coordinator and her passion for Easterseals. She will also explore what it's like being the mother of  Easterseals  participants, since her two teenage boys are on the autism spectrum and receive services provided by ESL. If you have a story you would like to tell about your life with a disability or your experience with ESL, please email us at info@laeasterseals.com and we will be in touch.