Students, professionals and mental health consumers from Arkansas attended an event hosted by Phi Alpha Honors Society on Friday, April 27, titled Empowering NWA: A Transformation in Mental Health. The University of Arkansas Associate Student Government also provided support for the event. A total of 80 people were in attendance for the event held at the Fayetteville Public Library.

Speakers at the event included: first lady Ginger Beebe, Oryx Cohen of the National Empowerment Center, representatives from the Personal Empowerment Recovery Coalition of North Little Rock, representatives from NAMI of Arkansas, and professor Michael Collie and Alishia Ferguson of the University of Arkansas School of Social Work.

Attendees included mental health services consumers and representatives from community organizations including Springwoods Behavioral Health and Vista Health as well as University organizations such as Counseling and Psychological Services, the Social Work Action Group and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The event was designed to be a conversation between both consumers of mental health or those with “lived experience” and professionals who treat mental health here in Northwest Arkansas. According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in four adults currently have a mental illness and nearly half will develop at least one mental illness during their lifetime.

Hannah Kimbrough, a master's student and Phi Alpha officer, said, “As social workers, we are ethically bound to uphold our core values such as a person’s right to self-determination and to maintain the dignity and worth of a person. After hearing the discussion today between professionals and those with lived experience, these core values have really come to life. It is imperative that professionals listen to the needs of consumers and empower them to take control of their own recovery. Individuals are truly the only experts on their own lives.”

To learn more about Phi Alpha and the School of Social Work, please visit the school's website at socialwork.uark.edu. For more information on mental health in the state of Arkansas, visit namiarkansas.org.

According to the organization’s national website, “the purpose of Phi Alpha Honor Society is to provide a closer bond among students of social work and promote humanitarian goals and ideals. Phi Alpha fosters high standards of education for social workers and invites into membership those who have attained excellence in scholarship and achievement in social work.”

Phi Alpha awarded an honorary membership to Ginger Beebe for her advocacy for mental health services for children and families in Arkansas and Alisha Ferguson for her advocacy for students and her leadership in the Northwest Arkansas geriatric community.