The May 11 Shining Star event, which the Mental Health Coalition of the Greater La Crosse Area sponsors, is in its eighth year of commemorating May as Mental Health Month. founder and CEO Don Weber and his wife, Roxanne.
The coalition works as an umbrella organization to convene information exchange meetings, provide a forum for discussion of mental health resources and programs, end the stigma often associated with mental health issues, and join with other partners to increase La Crosse County’s health ranking.
It has financial support from the Gundersen Medical Foundation, the Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare Foundation, the La Crosse Community Foundation, the La Crosse Rotary Foundation, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, and Don and Roxanne Weber.
For more information on the coalition and its mission, go to its website at www.mentalhealthlacrosse.org.
“There has to be something we can do to have them walk away and feel better about themselves.”
If she won’t give herself an atta-girl, the Mental Health Coalition of the Greater La Crosse Area will, proclaiming her as the Outstanding CIT Officer at its May 11 Shining Star Award ceremony.
CIT stands for crisis intervention training, which the coalition sponsors and many police officers and sheriff’s deputies take to help them understand people involved in domestic disputes, potential suicides and other traumatic incidents. The CIT courses also have the support of the city and county, many law enforcement jurisdictions and the La Crosse Community Foundation.
Coalition President Patti Jo Severson said, “Lieutenant Schott exemplifies outstanding work done by officers in dealing with mental health crises encountered in their jobs.”
Also being honored at the coalition event from 5 to 6:30 p.m. May 11 in the Cargill Room of Riverside Center II will be Randolph Kjos of Hokah, Minn., whom the organization is naming its Shining Star for the year.
The 60-year-old Kjos, who is retired from his job as a counselor for the Wisconsin Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), is being honored for his volunteer work with homeless and disadvantaged people, and those recovering from substance abuse.
Aaron Rasch, who works for Independent Living Resources (ILR) in La Crosse and is last year’s Shining Star, nominated Kjos after becoming acquainted with him through his DVR work and volunteer efforts.
Kjos’ own struggles with homelessness, substance abuse and mental health issues contribute to his effectiveness as a counselor, Rasch said.
“It’s a whole perfect storm of issues, and he’s the kind of a guy who really wants to make an impact,” Rasch said.
“He’s a blend who is a person you wouldn’t view as a poster child, but he really is,” Rasch said. He’s turned a volunteer gig into something profound.”
Kjos noted, “A lot of the people I work with have been jailed or institutionalized, and they shy away from professionals.”
But they open up readily to someone who has been in their shoes, such as Kjos, a La Crosse native whose volunteer gigs include the La Crosse Homeless Coalition, the Franciscan Spirituality Center and the La Crosse Warming Center.
In Houston County, Minn., he helped start that area’s only chapter of Narcotics Anonymous, an issue he became familiar with after suffering severe injuries when a drunken driver hit him as they played a dangerous street game in 1986.
“I was playing chicken with a drunk driver,” said Kjos, who was on foot.
Both zigged when one should have zagged, and Kjos suffered life-threatening injuries, being hospitalized unconscious for two weeks and on life support for six weeks, he said.
“I was no angel back then,” he acknowledged, although he said he had his own business and was doing well.
He became addicted to the pain pills and was afflicted with post-traumatic stress syndrome because of the accident, sexual abuse as a child and other jolting experiences, he said.
“Every human being has mental health issues,” he said.
