Many people with opioid addictions are also dealing with mental illness. Often times, they do not receive appropriate treatment for either condition.

Brittany Midolo, who has traveled her own journey with addiction and recovery, said it’s a struggle you can’t give up on. She said addressing her own mental health needs, like severe PTSD, depression and anxiety, helped with her addiction recovery as well.

The Grand Rapids community came together on Saturday morning to march for mental health awareness.

The Stomp Out Stigma 5K Walk for Mental Health was hosted by the Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan and began at 9:30 a.m. at Grand Valley State University's Seward Parking Lot.

The annual Stomp Out Stigma 5K steps off Saturday on Grand Valley State University’s downtown Grand Rapids campus, aiming to raise awareness for mental health and suicide prevention.

The free walk, which begins at 9:30 a.m., invites community members to challenge the stigma surrounding mental illness. A $100 donation includes a Stomp Out Stigma T-shirt. The event is rain or shine.

Christy Buck, founder and executive director of be nice., said stigma often prevents people from seeking help.

A Chicago-based group offers support to those who are struggling with eating disorders from people who know what it’s like.

“All of our programs are peer-led,” Jason Wood, the director of community engagement for the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, said. “They’re led by individuals with lived experience, who have been there, and now they can be there to support other individuals who might be starting that recovery journey or might just have some questions on how to support a loved one.”

For more than two decades, the Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan has been working to start open conversations about mental health issues. Later this month, they’ll hold their 23rd Stomp Out Stigma, the be nice. 5K Walk for Mental Health.

The walk aims to raise awareness for mental health and suicide prevention. Answer Health is a part of this year’s event that is free and open to the public. The begins at 9:30 a.m. on May 17 at the Seward Parking Lot on Grand Valley State University’s downtown campus.

Eating disorders can affect anyone, a local dietician is reminding people.

“Eating disorders, they present like a dysfunction in physical and mental patterns,” Caleb Lewis, Forest View Hospital’s lead dietician, said.

He said that would include thoughts about food and body image and beliefs about what healthy and unhealthy eating looks like.

An advocate for mental health surrounding eating disorders says it’s important to open up and get help if you’re struggling.

Grandville native Rachael Steil was a successful high school and college cross-country runner who struggled with an eating disorder.

West Michigan Community Tennis is a nonprofit in West Michigan that partners with be nice. Learn more about how they bring tennis and education to the community.

In 40 days, people will take steps toward healing and hope in Stomp Out Stigma, a walk that aims to raise awareness for mental health and suicide prevention.

Brad Gill, the chair of the Be Nice board of directors, and his family have participated in the walk for years in honor of Brad’s dad, who died by suicide 10 years ago.

“It’s become a really neat thing, not only to support the organization and be there for the great cause, but the experience that we’ve had as a family with it has changed. … It’s become kind of a good tradition just for us to get together, celebrate as a family and kind of celebrate the memory of my dad too,” Gill said.

A local nonprofit wants you to know that helping others through volunteering is a way to help your own mental health.

“What we know is, from research, that the volunteer, their mental health is fostered more dramatically than that of the person who is the recipient of their help,” Jacqueline Brayman of the North End Wellness Coalition in Grand Rapids. “It reduces stress, it can help relax us.”

A West Michigan group has a message for those who know someone who died by suicide: You don’t have to grieve alone. West Michigan Survivors of Suicide Loss offers a monthly support group for anyone who has experienced a loss due to suicide. It meets every second Thursday of the month at Park Congregational Church in Grand Rapids.

osing a loved one to suicide can usher in a time full of confusing and painful emotions.

Kristin Mecklenburg, a psychologist with Ellie Mental Health in Grand Rapids, said the unusual complicated emotions that follow the death of a loved one can be more layered when the death is by suicide.

“Particularly with the stigma around mental illness and suicide, it may be difficult for survivors to talk about the death, to talk about their feelings,” Mecklenburg said.