Angie Reinoehl/MDN Tanya Cowart, left, and Lisa Hermosillo have been working together to create Talk United Minot, a new peer support group to promote community connections.

Local mental health advocates Lisa Hermosillo and Tanya Cowart have formed a new peer support group that will bring together airmen at Minot Air Force Base and Minot community members to create meaningful connections in an effort to promote mental health.

Addressing the community’s rising mental health needs with the Minot City Council on Jan. 16, Hermosillo introduced Talk United Minot, a peer-based support group that focuses on bringing people of all backgrounds, professions and walks of life together in one setting, which the co-founders hope will help remove the stigma surrounding mental health.

One large goal of the program is to bridge the gap between Minot AFB personnel and local Minot community members.

Hermosillo pointed out airmen from across the country are oftentimes separated from their families and local communities when they are stationed at the Minot base. The hope is to facilitate meaningful connections so members can have a community outside of family and coworkers they can turn to when they’re struggling with stressors from everyday life.

During her address to the council, Hermosillo recounted her three-day demonstration last November on the Broadway bridge to commemorate three lost lives on Minot Air Force Base last October. On Friday, 2nd Lt. Casen Salitore, of the 5th Bomb Wing Public Affairs Office at Minot AFB, said the investigations into the deaths are still ongoing.

Cowart and Hermosillo said the best way to address the glaring need for mental health services among veterans is to promote healthy coping skills and mental healthcare among active servicemembers. By creating these connections through Talk United Minot, they hope servicemembers will obtain a healthy outlet to vent their stresses, which they say isn’t always available because of the “macho” front often associated with the military.

“Suicides are traumatic to not only our our military, EMS, firefighters, healthcare workers and law enforcement, but also to the members of our community – and also, our veterans are no exception to this. We need to ensure they have access to resources, whether that is through grants, city funding or even at the state level. Prioritizing mental health saves lives, and understanding the obstacles that so many of our airmen and our community members face is absolutely vital,” Hermosillo told the council.

Cowart and Hermosillo said Talk United is going to be a socially centered, no judgment group that won’t have the rigidity found in many peer-support groups. They said members will help shape how the group functions so participants can get the most out of the experience. In addition to social support during meetings, they want to bring in outside resources to provide information about additional support, to do member spotlights with personal testimonials and offer group activities to promote personal connections.

“We don’t want anybody in our community to feel alone. Don’t feel like you’re by yourself in all of this. There’s people out there fighting the fight for you and are willing to do anything it takes – going to city council, talking to state representatives, senators – we’re willing to do that,” Hermosillo said. “When you ask what we want the community to know, it’s that you’re not alone.”

Meetings will be held the second and fourth Thursdays of every month at the Minot Rural Fire Department conference room and are projected to start Thursday, Jan. 25.

“Truly our end goal here is simple,”Hermosillo told the council. “It is to save lives and to educate. Let’s change the way we view seeking help and sharing our stories of survival or recovery.”