I attended Bay Days to table with Wilderness Health and the North Shore Mental Health Group. It is an active group of citizens committed to increasing awareness of and access to mental health resources up the shore.

North Shore Mental Health Group strives to create safe and welcoming spaces in the Silver Bay, Finland, Beaver Bay, and Isabella areas for those living with or wanting to support others living with mental health challenges.

We are here to build a community where it is safe to talk about mental well-being, and to live well with and encourage treatment for mental illnesses, brain injuries, and disorders.

If you would like more information about the group, please contact us at [email protected] . Stay safe and healthy.

One of my tablemates worked with G.L.A.D:

G.L.A.D. (Group for people Living with Anxiety and Depression or other mental health challenges and their supporters) is a confidential peer support group that meets via Zoom.

Bay Days is an annual festival in Silver Bay, celebrating reunions for the high school and for residents of the town who moved around the state. People from everywhere in Minnesota stopped by the table.

The headliner this year was Great White.

The library had a book sale, but I own too many books lately. Giving them away.

But I did come home with a story. As people walked up to the table, I would ask “What brings you by?” Most people would answer with why they were at the fair. One person paused and said “to say thank you.” Surprised, I looked back, intent to listen, and they said “I tried to hurt myself a few years ago. I wonder if someone had been at a festival like this, back then, whether it might have gone differently. Thank you for being here.”

Honestly, it was an amazing reminder of unintentional good we can do in the world, just by being present.