Harry Moore
How a Jacksonville-based service is reimagining mental health treatment
Words by Harry Moore
Depression and suicidal ideation have existed in a silent omnipresence across the lives of many people but with September being Suicide Prevention Month, it is as important as ever to raise awareness for these conditions and to show that support is out there for anyone who needs help. Having lapses in mental health is a very common struggle that can be an incredibly lonely road to walk down and that can often lead to feeling like there is no real solution to overcome the suffering. The ability to find treatment and professional support for these ailments is too often failing to meet the needs of those who are struggling. Between cost, needlessly convoluted insurance plans, and the crowded schedules of therapists, the point of entry to getting even the most basic mental health support is just out of reach for a lot of people – especially for those who are in immediate crisis. With over 40,000 people losing their lives to suicide every year, there is clearly room for innovation in how mental health services can be sought out. Luckily for Jacksonville, there is a local service with a mission to make suicide prevention treatment accessible to all and a staff of enthusiastic professionals who are ready and willing to help people battling depression and other mental ailments on a fast schedule and at no cost.
Since opening its doors in 2021, Here Tomorrow has helped hundreds of people, both teens and adults, who are enduring the effects of severe depression. Located in Neptune Beach, Here Tomorrow’s meeting space was designed with comfort in mind to create a destressing environment that invites people to feel at ease through light pastel colors and comforting decor that makes it a far cry from the often-sterile settings of your average therapist’s office. Here Tomorrow has its doors open 365 days a year through the help of a staff composed of volunteers and sub-contracted therapists, as well as peers who have a life experiences similar to the people who come through Here Tomorrow’s doors, making them able to relate to the struggles of depression and provide a helping hand away from the turmoil. Here Tomorrow’s peers are representative of the ingenuity of the service. After being in recovery for at least two years, peers are trained in-house to be certified by the state. The treatment provided is non-clinical, so there is no prescribing medication, but the peers’ experience and training make them more than capable of providing concrete support and guidance for people who are in crisis.
Through continual long-term care, programs catered toward different demographics such as teenagers or veterans and various group sessions, Here Tomorrow’s method has shown to be successful in mitigating suicide, particularly in comparison to short-term stays at psychiatric hospitals through the Baker Act. Addressing mental health support is a crusade that is much needed in Duval County where the suicide rate is higher than both the state and national average, having such a resource is a tremendous asset to the Jacksonville community. As Here Tomorrow Executive Director Tracee Holzendorf said,, “We are proud to be a valued resource to our community. We are committed to continuing to remove barriers to access and providing support for the mental wellness of the individuals and families we serve now and in the future.”
Here Tomorrow was founded by Joe Kenney, who lost his son Gary to suicide after a lengthy battle with depression. Despite his many connections gained through a successful career in business, Joe kept running into walls when looking for a therapist and was ultimately unable to find his son the help he needed in time. Through his grief, Joe wanted to ensure that others wouldn’t have to go through what he and Gary did, by taking away the barriers of insurance and extensive wait times, which became key pillars to Here Tomorrow’s ethos as a resource.
Nancy Weaver, director of donor relations echoed Kenney’s mission, “No cost, no wait, and we don’t even talk to people about their insurance.”
Not just content with providing a safe space for vulnerable people in our community to get the help they need, the team at Here Tomorrow has ambitions to reimagine our approach to providing mental health services on a much larger scale. Here Tomorrow is an entirely unique model for combatting depression and suicide or as Weaver put it, “There is nowhere else in the country that has anything like this, for it to be in Jacksonville is a very big deal.”
With a goal of making mental health support accessible to all, Here Tomorrow is planning on expanding to a second location elsewhere in Florida and then looking to revolutionize how we tackle suicide prevention across the nation, right out of the shores of Jacksonville.
For more information on Here Tomorrow, visit heretomorrow.org.
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