Courtesy Photo Participants of the run-walk outside of the Northeast Michigan Community Mental Health Authority building off of Johnson Street start their race at the gate.

ALPENA — The Northeast Michigan Community Mental Health Authority is hosting its second annual Mental Health Movement Event on May 18 after overwhelming support from the local Northeast Michigan community last year, now with longer and shorter routes available.

The event, which only had a 5-kilometer route available last year, will now feature a 2-kilometer and 10-kilometer route as a means to be more inclusive for all levels of ability.

Rebekah Duhaime, executive assistant at the Mental Health Authority, said that even with the fewer routes last year, there was an overwhelming amount of participants than the organization ever expected.

“We had over 200 participants show up on that day which, the whole time, we were saying that we just wanted to get to 100,” Duhaime said. “So, the fact that we got to 200 was amazing. Due to the overwhelming support we received from the community, we wanted to bring everybody together and fight against the stigma of mental illness, so we expanded our race to have other routes.”

The run will be happening in May because the United States has observed the month as Mental Health Awareness Month since 1949, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The organization said that the run is meant to bring attention to mental health and resources around Northeast Michigan.

To do so, the Mental Health Authority is looking to have other resources as a part of the event by bringing their own information to booths.

“Partners in Prevention has signed up to come,” Mary Crittenden, chief operations officer with the Mental Health Authority, said. “They’re a wonderful organization that we partner with regularly. Last year, we had the Health and Human Services department there, so we’re hoping to reach out to different resources and partners next week.”

Children ages 11 and under are free to register for the race, but older participants must pay a fee per person.

Early bird registration is currently ongoing through March 31 at $20 but will increase to $25 for all of April. Late registration will be open until May 16 at $30. To register, visit www.nemcmh.org, the authority’s Facebook event page, or runsignup.com.

Crittenden said that the run is important as the National Alliance on Mental Illness reported that one in five U.S. adults experience mental illness each year.

“It’s okay to have symptoms and it’s okay to have these illnesses,” Crittenden said. “The second leading cause of death in ages 10 to 14 is suicide, which is a hard thing to talk about, but we really need to help bring those numbers down. For physical health, we’d go to the doctor if something seemed off or wrong, so we should go in with our mental health and have those conversations to normalize getting help.”

The Mental Health Authority has crisis services available 24 hours per day every day. For the crisis phone number, call 989-356-2161 or 800-968-1964.