Breaking the Chain: Town Hall session filled with hope

The Wilmington Coalition for a Healthy Community will be hosting a Town Hall meeting on Monday, Aug. 11 at the Mar Theatre, 121 S. Main St.
Michael Menard, a Kankakee native and bestselling author, will be the keynote speaker. His memoir, "The Kite That Couldn't Fly" became an unexpected catalyst for trauma awareness, leading to his groundbreaking new book, "Greater Than Gravity: How Childhood Trauma is Pulling Down Humanity."
Through meticulous research, Michael has uncovered startling data: childhood trauma is the #3 cause of death in America and the #1 cause of addiction, suicide and incarceration.
Other speakers will be Henry Tyler, a veteran, Recovery Support Specialist and trauma survivor. After 14 years of serving in the U.S. Army, Tyler was diagnosed with PTSD, depression and substance misuse disorder.
He will share his road to recovery and how his involvement with the National Alliance on Mental Illness and mental health awareness helped to set the stage for his journey into wellness.
Also speaking will be Katrina Deutsche-Vaclavik who holds a master's degree in addiction counseling from Governors State University. For the past six years, she has worked as a Juvenile Justice Clinical Therapist and, in the past, has worked with adolescent males in a residential substance abuse treatment program.
This will be an eye opening evening of information that will show the correlation of childhood trauma and mental illness, alcohol and substance misuse & shortened life spans.
Please plan on attending to learn what can be done to help make Wilmington, as well as other communities, a healthier, better place to live.
Doors open at 6 p.m. and the event will start promptly at 6:30 p.m. at the Mar Theater in Wilmington. Concessions will be available for purchase. All are welcome!