VISALIA – A program in Visalia that helps residents work through their mental health struggles in creative ways is facing funding cuts.
According to Merry Miller-Gass, a project coordinator, the My Voice Media Center is facing budget cuts due to the restructuring of funds in California Proposition 1. She said this has left the group uncertain if they will be able to continue their services to help community members that struggle with mental health.
“My Voice Media Center is a very unique program in that it combines art with mental wellness … exploring all sorts of different creative activities, from drawing, painting, printmaking and then some more unusual sessions like rescued wood,” said Miller-Gass.
Prop 1 was passed by voters in March 2024, meant to increase the state’s capacity to provide behavioral health care and housing for vulnerable populations living with the most significant mental health needs. This year, Miller-Gass explained that the state will be moving money away from wellness and recovery programs funded by the proposition to focus on programs that help with the unhoused populations.
On July 1, the Behavioral Services Act is going into effect. According to the website of the California Department of Health Care Services, the act is reforming the funding for behavioral health care, and will do this by prioritizing service for those with significant mental health needs, expanding housing interventions and increasing the behavioral health workforce.
However, the changes could leave My Voice Media without the funding they need to continue their program. Miller-Gass noted that it costs approximately $400 per session that can accommodate up to 10 participants. They hold 10 sessions per week. Sessions are offered Tuesday through Friday every week at the Arts Consortium, near downtown Visalia.
“The primary source of our funding was from Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency,” Miller-Gass said in an email to The Sun-Gazette. “Proposition 1 requires Tulare County HHSA to restructure its behavioral health services, and we are one of the programs being defunded as a result of this change.”.
In her interview, Miller-Gass said each of the classes are facilitated by a working artist that helps the participant explore both art and different mental health tools.
“They’re exploring different ways that art can influence our wellness, and all the while they’re doing it in this really beautiful gallery setting, the safe space where they’re building community,” said Miller-Gass.
Other than the facilitated sessions that the My Voice Media Center hosts for the participants, they have open sessions where the participants can bring their own supplies to further work on their art.
There is also a group through the My Voice Media Center, the Stigma Speakers Bureau, run by peer support specialist Olivia Garza. Through it, participants get to tell their story to other groups, such as nurses, to destigmatize mental health struggles.
Miller-Gass noted the Stigma Speakers Bureau has helped medical professionals better understand patients that are in a mental health crisis. She said the lack of funding for the center threatens to get rid of all of these resources.
“Right now to prepare our participants, we’re trying to find other resources that they can have somewhere to go and let them know that there’s other programs out there,” said Garza. “I think this place was wonderful. It did a lot of good for a lot of people, so I’m definitely going to miss it.”.
Miller-Gass explained that there is a sponsor for the rescued wood session that lets the participants take old wood and turn it into a piece of art. The sponsor will allow this session to remain until the end of the year.
Ray Cuellar, a participant at the My Voice Media Center, said he wants to continue to, “spread the art and the peer support that I learned here.” He said the My Voice Media Center and Garza helped save him after he became sober.
“I would get that light feeling that I was important,” explained Nelsen Mendoza, a participant of the program.
Other residents that attend the My Voice Media Center sessions spoke of how valuable these programs have been to them.
“Gonna miss it here … got to meet a lot of great people … helps with my anxiety,” said Angelina Myers, a participant of the program.
The My Voice Media Center has worked with other groups in the community to offer support to those that are struggling with mental health, said Miller-Gass.
While the participants are preparing themselves in case the center shuts down, the My Voice Media Center will be seeking sponsorships to keep their program alive. Any individual or group that is looking to help support the My Voice Media Center to keep the classes going can email [email protected].