RAMP bolsters focus on mental health to serve those with ‘invisible disablities’

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — RAMP is working to change the conversation about what it means to have a disability.

For years, the nonprofit’s name has produced images of serving individuals in wheelchairs. But the organization does much more, and in the past year it has bolstered its services for people with “invisible disabilities” such as depression, anxiety and other mental health issues.

“It is a common misconception. People hear the word RAMP, they picture a ramp,” said Katie Lee, services director for RAMP. “They assume we serve people with physical disabilities, which we do, but we serve people … with any kind of disability.”

Related: New funding helped Rosecrance cut wait times for mental health services by 22 days

About 70% of the people RAMP serves have diagnosed mental health issues. Sometimes it’s coupled with a physical disability. Sometime’s it’s not.

“When you’re talking about those invisible disabilities, it’s harder to recognize,” said Deanna Robbins, Winnebago County manager for RAMP. “That’s why we’re bringing that into the disability conversation.”

Last year, RAMP was one of the first 15 organizations to share in nearly $8.8 million in funding from the newly instituted mental health sales tax. The nearly $167,300 it received went toward expanding its advocacy efforts for students, and a new youth education advocate was hired.

The organization’s goal was to serve a little more than 50 youth and their families with the new education advocate, it exceeded that with nearly 70 to date.

The new youth education advocate, Grace Gerrard, said she has dealt with anxiety and attention deficit disorder since she was a child. That experience helps her connect with the students she serves and understand their needs.

Lee said the pandemic led to more calls from young students who had difficulties adjusting to the stress of returning to class amid the ongoing public health crisis.

“We’ve had an impact on helping keep students in their classrooms when they were dealing with anxiety and stress coming back to school from COVID times,” Lee said.

Related: Winnebago County Jail adds mental health services, aims to keep inmates connected after release

This coming year, the nonprofit is set to expand its mental health advocacy further. Again it’s doing so with the aid of dollars from the mental health sales tax. RAMP will receive nearly $293,600 in mental health sales tax funding, which it will use to continue its youth advocacy program and hire a new mental health advocate.

The new role will be two-fold, both serving RAMP adult clients with mental health issues and working as a public advocate.

“We get a lot of individuals who may have serious mental illness who have trouble keeping their housing or have trouble advocating for their needs or connecting with medical services,” Lee said.

The new employee, which will be hired in the coming months, will work alongside clients to show them how to how to advocate for their rights, describe their disability and gain access to essentials such as housing, food and employment.

“It’s really us recognizing how many of the people we serve might experience some mental health issues and need us to really tailor our services to them,” said Eric Brown, education and advocacy coordinator for ramp.

RAMP employs about 40 people and serves anyone with any disability in Boone, Winnebago, DeKalb and Stephenson counties. More than half RAMP’s staff are individuals with disabilities, and the nonprofit says that peer-to-peer support is one of the key components to its success.

Related: Park District pushes to fund ‘desperately needed’ equestrian center for mental health services

Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, which has been observed in the United States since 1949. Throughout the month, the Rock River Current will publish several stories looking at use of the mental health sales tax in Winnebago County and other local initiatives centered around mental health.

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas.