The Chas Foundation

“Margaret corprew beau kirkwood president exec. Direct parent/child”

“The return is provided to the officers to review prior to filing.”

“Any officer or director that notes a conflict of interest is required to abstain from voting on any matter related to the conflict of interest.”

“Copies of the governing documents are available upon request to the organization.”

“The mission of the chas foundation is: to advocate for individuals living with mental illness; to address the stigma associated with people living with a mental illness; to streamline access to effective treatment; to save the lives of those struggling with a mental illness by working with private and public professionals; to provide education and support for family members impacted by their loved ones mental illness. Established in 2012, the chas foundation aims to streamline access to effective treatment for those impacted by mental illness in the hampton roads region. Chas stands for courage, hope, acceptance, and support. The organization was created in memory of charles h. Kirkwood (chas) who struggled with bipolar disorder, encountered numerous barriers to treatment, and ultimately lost his life to suicide. The organization began as a grassroots movement to significantly change how mental illness is both perceived and treated within our communities.”

“Volunteers assist with the events held during the year and also with some administrative functions.”

“Mental illness navigator & support (mins) program in 2024, the chas foundation continued helping individuals and their families struggling with mental illness by connecting them to local treatment providers and offering peer family support. Support services include transportation, crisis meals, and temporary housing for individuals with serious mental illness (smi). Indeed, there is a disconnect between an individual needing mental health treatment and them accessing treatment. A multitude of barriers exist accessing treatment including cost, transportation, lack of providers, wait-times to receive treatment, substance abuse, etc chas seeks to eliminate those barriers. The mental illness navigator and support program educates families about the complex mental healthcare system, supports them along their journey, and provides a continuum of care through referrals and connections to local mental health services (treatment providers, housing, police, court, jails). When inpatient and outpatient services and resources are inadequate, or the individual and/or family has exhausted all options, the chas foundation continues to provide peer family support so that a support system is established for the entire family unit. Additional support is given by meeting with individuals and families at their choice of location, providing transportation to reach service providers, and assistance making doctors appointments. The mental health system can be a maze for individuals. Many people, families, and caretakers do not know where to start or how to navigate the system. An online mental health resource guide showing resources and services in every hampton roads city is continually updated for community use. Chas is the primary contact listed for residents to access resources and services on the mentally healthy hampton roads resource guide. The resource guide can be found and downloaded at talkaboutitnorfolk.com. Chas and the navigator and support program provide a free local mental health resource for the hampton roads region. A person can call and speak with a peer-specialist that's compassionate, caring, supportive, and informative while working to increase access to mental health care for that individual, family member, or caretaker. A chas peer-family-support specialist is available by phone from 9am to 5pm monday through friday and no appointment is necessary. The support specialist is local to the region and provides both information and support that is truly a lifeline to callers and program participants. The mins peer-support-specialist can be on the phone or meeting with a program participant for upwards of 3 hours per day. Mins staff work with some program participants daily or multiple times per week and some participants have been in the mins program for over 8 years. Unlike before, local health care and insurance providers are now referring families to the chas foundation. The mins program also receives calls from people asking for information about mental health services and resources including basic information like phone numbers or addresses for inpatient and outpatient treatment providers. In 2024, 612 peer-support connections to service providers and resources were made by the mins program. 58% of the calls chas receives comes from family members or friends asking how to help a loved one. 80% of callers have some form of health insurance. 70% of callers live in south hampton roads. Since the program began, the mins program has directly helped over 4200 people and have made over 5500 connections to local services. 2024 saw an increased demand for support services including crisis meals (69% increase) and temporary housing (282% increase) for individuals with serious mental illness. Mindfulness program mindfulness-based cognitive therapy may be useful for treating symptoms of anxiety, according to research published recently in the british journal of psychiatry. Researchers looked at changes in anxiety levels among patients w”