'Hey man, you good?': Healthy Living Alliance launches mental health campaign

Healthy Living Alliance of the Ozarks this morning announced its plans for six figures' worth of Community Foundation of the Ozarks Inc. grant funding.

The HLA, a collaborative of more than 40 health and community organizations, is launching a men’s mental health campaign called, "Hey Man, You Good?"

"Along with self-care strategies and healthy behaviors, connection with friends, family, colleagues and professional help when needed can alleviate a mental health occurrence before it becomes a crisis," officials said in a news release. “'Hey man, you good?' aims to kickstart those connections through conversation."

The campaign calls on men in Greene County to check in on other men in an effort to be open and honest about how they are feeling. According to the HLA, men over 45 are the group most likely to die by suicide in the community.

The HLA members include the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, Burrell Behavioral Health, Community Partnership of the Ozarks Inc., CoxHealth and Mercy. The HLA and Burrell recently received a $200,000 mental wellness grant from CFO, with the potential to reach as much as $600,000 over three years if the recipients meet grant-renewal requirements, according to past reporting.

Whitney Mann, communications and outreach coordinator for the Health Department, said the HLA's $100,000 portion would go toward personnel, website management, video production, paid advertising, printing and supplies.

"All our content will be focused on men’s mental health and branded through our new campaign 'Hey man, you good?'" Mann said via email. "This first year we are focusing more on content creation. Future years will be primarily focused on community outreach and paid advertising."

Burrell’s funds will go toward its Our Networks Engaged program, which helps businesses train staff and implement in-house suicide prevention measures, and its Be Well self-care initiative, according to past reporting.