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Ginger Beebe fights for children’s mental health

By Jeannie Nugent/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, June 13, 2007 4:24 PM CDT

Arkansas’s first lady Ginger Beebe keeps it unpretentious when she describes her role in pushing the children’s mental health issue to the forefront of the state’s conscience.

“I listen more than I speak. I want them to know that I care and that I’m going to do all I can to see that something happens for them to improve the care of these children,” Beebe said. “I’ve told so many of them that I just keep them all in my prayers every morning. My heart just goes out to them. I care and am trying to do what I can. I expect everybody else in this state that will have a part, that can have a part in this, to do the same.”

Beebe’s visit to Pine Bluff on Tuesday was the 18th port of call on her statewide “listening tour” that puts her face-to-face with those living daily with childhood mental issues.

She guards the families’ privacy by deeming the meetings closed to the press and the general public. However, she explains, the information she gleans from behind closed doors will be the first step in changing the state’s landscape when it comes to its response to childhood mental illness.

“They’ve been very open and honest. It takes a lot of courage for them to come forth and talk about the things that, in the past, they’ve been very quiet about,” Beebe said.

Needs expressed by the families include not enough services within their reach to meet their needs, schools that don’t know how to respond to children with mental illnesses and public perception.

“They’re not bad children, but sometimes it’s how they act out because of their behavioral issues. They’re not bad kids. They have this problem no different than you having diabetes or arthritis,” she said.

Often, as a result of Beebe’s meetings, families forge bonds with others living the same scenario.

“Those families need support as well as the children,” Beebe said. “It doesn’t just affect that child that has the issues, but it affects the mom and dad. The brothers and sisters need support too. You have to help the whole family.”

She took the torch of this particular public cause, she said, after speaking to constituents on the campaign trail who repeatedly voiced their desire for a state-wide plan of action to address childhood mental issues. She brings with her an “entourage” of state leaders, like Rhonda Sanders, the director of health policy for the Arkansas Advocacy for Children and Families; Pam Marshall, executive director for Arkansas Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health; Holli Hatfield, with the National Alliance of Mental Illness; and Joyce Soulare, with the Arkansas Mental Health Planning and Advisory Council.

The information Beebe elicits from the tour will be compiled into a report and presented to the new Commission on Children’s Mental Health, which was established by Act 1593 of the 2007 General Assembly.

Former state Rep. Jay Bradford, D-White Hall, commended the governor and Mrs. Beebe for so passionately taking up the cause.

“We have a governor who is absolutely the best qualified and comes out right from the gate focusing on this issue,” Bradford said. “He is an achiever and he’s got a good soulmate up here, in Ginger.”

Beebe said she will not sit on the newly formed commission, but vows that her involvement will not stop once she delivers the report.

“I do want to hear reports on what they’re doing. I’ve been visiting with these families and I don’t want to let them down. Your heart just goes out to them. They’re normal families like all of us. They just have these children with issues,” Beebe said. “They’re our future. All these children, they’re capable of living normal lives, but they need some help. How many of us along the way have had that extra help from someone? That’s what we need to do. It would certainly make their lives and our state better, too.”

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