be nice., a West Michigan-based nonprofit focused on mental health education and suicide prevention, has announced the 2026 date for its signature family event, now reintroduced as the be nice. Family Fun Fest. The event will take place Saturday, March 28, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at DeVos Place.

DETROIT, MI, September 3, 2025 ‒ Samaritas, one of Michigan’s largest nonprofit health and human services organizations, is proud to announce the launch of “Coaches Who Care,” a program celebrating high school coaches who recognize the importance of mental health among young student-athletes.

DETROIT, MI, September 3, 2025 ‒ Samaritas, one of Michigan’s largest nonprofit health and human services organizations, is proud to announce the launch of “Coaches Who Care,” a program celebrating high school coaches who recognize the importance of mental health among young student-athletes.

th school starting soon, youths and teens may be dealing with more anxiety and stress that affects their mental health.

About 40% of teens experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Being a teenager can be hard. It’s a time of rapid change and growth, but it can also come with pressures and unique challenges that can impact mental health.

Despite the joy of welcoming a baby, it’s not uncommon for new mothers to struggle with mental health.

Jean Holthaus, the outpatient network regional director at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services near Grand Rapids, said about 1 in 5 mothers and 10% of their partners experience perinatal mood or anxiety disorders sometime between conception and a year after delivery.

Welcoming a new baby is an exciting time, but it can also be exhausting for new moms.

Grand Rapids-based nonprofit MomsBloom works to support new parents.

“We are there to support and help families after they bring a baby home,” MomsBloom Executive Director Kimber Wagner said.

Experts are reminding new moms to take stock of themselves because perinatal mood disorder can happen during pregnancy and after childbirth.

“It impacts any woman who is pregnant and into the year after their baby is born or delivery,” Barbara Hawkins-Palmer, director of Healthy Kent at the Kent County Health Department, said.

As people age, they may experience certain life changes that could impact their mental health.

“Stressors in their life that have to do with physical health, maybe have to do with their housing and changes in where they’re living, maybe it’s facing the death of a loved one, that now they’re facing life by themselves. Older adults can also experience times of loneliness, times of feeling worthless because they’re not doing the same things that they were doing before,” explained Christy Buck with Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan.

Caregiving can be rewarding, but it can also be overwhelming at times. Caregivers may experience emotional and physical exhaustion, and burnout is a common yet preventable issue.

It can be a lot to care for a loved one diagnosed with dementia. The physical and emotional toll can be especially overwhelming for those who do not reach out for help and support.

“Oftentimes, people are impacted at the end stage of whatever is causing the dementia, but it can actually start about 20 years earlier than that. So, there’s a long journey of how things change over that period of time. It’s a fluid situation,” Joy Spahn

Someone recently diagnosed with dementia can experience a range of emotions — shock, fear, grief, disbelief or even relief. But the toll weighs on their caregivers as well.

Caregiver Andrea Hughes said her mom, Kristy, had symptoms years before her diagnosis.

“Forgetting where she was driving to, forgetting special dates, forgetting just places within her hometown in Holland that she had been to her entire life and then eventually she could not remember what my name was,” Hughes said.