We want you to be our partners in reducing the suicide rate, especially among veterans
Here at SmileySharing, we have made it our mission to help others as much as possible, but Michael’s work in the ridesharing business was never meant to be a permanent vocation. Michael’s true calling is to provide mental health care to people who are thinking about or have attempted suicide, especially veterans. The VA estimates that 20 veterans commit suicide daily. That doesn’t factor in other veterans who have attempted suicide but survived or veterans who have considered suicide but haven’t acted on the urge to end their lives. The VA has not been able to provide adequate physical or mental health care to our veterans, leading one desperate veteran to go so far as to commit suicide in a VA hospital waiting room.
We want to change all of that.
Michael is finishing up his Master of Education in Counseling degree at UMSL. His goal is to open a private practice that specializes in the treatment of clients who are struggling with thoughts of suicide, regardless of their ability to pay for services. While our main goal is to help veterans, we will not turn away anyone who needs our care. Rebecca is about halfway through earning her Associate of Applied Science in Health Information Technology degree. She will use the skills and certification she earns through her education to be able to manage the behind-the-scenes work at the clinic, including coding, billing, scheduling, accounting, and logistics.
Unfortunately, in spite of the growing need for mental health care professionals and the growing number of career-changers in the United States, there is no need-based financial aid available for anyone who has earned a Bachelor degree, which Michael and Rebecca have done. Michael is a graduate student, as we previously mentioned, and Rebecca is earning a second degree after earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 2002, so neither of them qualify for need-based financial aid. Non-need-based financial aid for someone going into a professional field is also scant, so competition for the aid is fierce.
We need your help.
In order to make our clinic a reality, we need funding to be able to complete our educations, pay for our licenses and certifications, pay any other expenses to open our clinic, and have sufficient funds to be able to see all of clients regardless of their ability to pay. (Naturally, anyone who has insurance or can afford to pay for our services out-of-pocket will be billed.)
We need you to partner with us in making this clinic a reality. You can do that by making a donation on our GoFundMe page. If you do, you will be investing not only in our dream, but in our veterans and our entire community. If you follow us here on SmileySharing, you will also see our PowerPoint presentation about the clinic we want to open, as well as our proposal and upcoming business plan.
If we succeed, everyone wins.
Partner with us today!