The City of Plainfield has an active Mayors Wellness Campaign. Last year, Plainfield received a $20,000 grant through the Quality Institute’s Mayors Wellness Campaign Mental Health Initiative, funded by Walmart.

How did Plainfield determine there was a need to focus on the mental health of its residents?

As a city, we’re coming back from COVID, and we have seen the toll it has taken on many of our city members, including our senior citizens and middle-aged adults. We listened to our community. The vision for our grant, with our Mayor Adrian O. Mapp and my director, Shep Brown, was to let everyone know that mental health is a priority for us. And getting the grant from the Mayors Wellness Campaign and Walmart and support from the Quality Institute enabled us to create initiatives that align with our vision. We have been able to engage our community in so many ways.

How did you get the community involved?

It was fairly easy because we regularly build collaborations and partnerships with community organizations. For these initiatives, our religious and spiritual leaders were always at the table, and we regularly received feedback on issues, such as: How do we tackle barriers? How do we create bridges and get more members of our community involved? We let our community know that we’re here and we want their voices to be heard. It’s accountability, buy-in, and transparency. That’s what allows people to be part of our shared vision.

What initiatives did you create in Plainfield?

First, we created a mental health resource page that is linked to the city’s official website, making it easy for residents to access mental health services and educational resources, helping lower barriers to care. To raise awareness and reduce stigma, Plainfield launched the #MentalHealthMattersPLFD campaign, distributing vinyl signs for local businesses and organizations to display in support of mental health awareness. We formed a youth committee to lead and shape future mental health efforts, empowering young people to promote mental health awareness and advocacy. The youth committee’s involvement has been particularly energetic and key to sustaining these efforts.

And we introduced art therapy workshops and other creative initiatives to engage community members in mental health through artistic expression. These workshops offered a safe and supportive space for individuals to explore their mental health, process emotions, and build connections with others in the community. Plainfield expanded its Employee Assistance Program to provide mental health support for family members of city employees, extending the program’s reach beyond the workplace. And there are programs around yoga, meditation, and mindfulness.

How did you ensure that your mental health strategies were culturally relevant?

Plainfield was known as a prominent African American community. And then over time we started welcoming other communities — and now we’re a richly diverse community.

We have Latinx groups from South and Central America and people from the Caribbean, such as Jamaica, Barbados, and Haiti. We also have a growing Asian community. Right now, we have materials in Spanish and English. We know there are different dialects of Spanish that we have to consider. When we’re hosting or translating, we make sure that we’re translating to various dialects of Spanish. We work to make sure that all individuals can engage even if language may be a barrier. We aim to make seeking help a normalized part of everyday life.

Finally, we like to ask a question beyond a person’s professional work. If you could choose anyone (throughout history or alive today), who would be your hero?  

My hero is my grandfather. He was very instrumental in New Jersey for inserting all religions and spiritualities into the New Jersey Department of Corrections. At one time, they had a limited number of religions and spiritualities that were accepted and honored for inmates who were incarcerated. My grandfather worked with the State and incorporated as many as he feasibly could. His stance was that everyone is unique. Everyone has a choice of who they serve, and everyone has their own way to get to wherever they’re going. He is my hero because he stood on his word, made things happen, and celebrated everyone for their own uniqueness.