OCIA looks to launch mental health workshops and expand community outreach in Oviedo

Oviedo Citizens in Action is looking to begin mental health workshops this year in response to the three teenage suicides that occured in the same week in Seminole County last year.

Kathy Hunt, OCIA’s president, said when the organization heard of the string of tragedies, she knew free mental health resources were a need in the community.

“There’s a need there. But that workshop will be for everyone, not only the youth. But they will be addressing those issues, to expose youth to safe havens, havens that they can talk about what’s on their mind. They may not have that outlet.”

Shelby Jones, a registered nurse and OCIA’s communications director, came up with the idea to partner with Orlando Health for a mental health seminar. Jones wrote that Orlando Health provides mental health classes in the community, and she is trying to schedule the eight-hour class at the Seminole County sheriff’s department in Oviedo for easy access for the community.

The idea behind the class is that many people know how to administer first aid, but not as many people can respond to a mental health crisis.

“With the rise of many mental health struggles in our city and beyond, the fact is people are likely to encounter someone having a mental health crisis,” Jones wrote. “It could be someone they know but it also could be someone they don’t know. This class helps give regular community folks the tools to know how to help a friend or neighbor in need.”

OCIA hopes to host the event in May, but no exact date has been set.

Listening to the community

For over half a century, OCIA has served the community by amplifying underrepresented voices, hosting community events and awarding scholarships.

Last spring, OCIA launched its new administrative support team, which serves as a listening arm for the organization in order to answer members’ needs. The 13-member group is also reviewing OCIA’s bylaws to refresh the organization to better serve the community. 

“When you have over 60 active members … you got to listen to everybody,” Hunt said. “Now with this administrative team, they’re hearing things that I may not have heard.”

She said the group works closely with the rest of the membership and paves the way for the organization to make decisions as a whole, instead of solely by the group’s president. Hunt clarified that the administrative group itself does not make the decisions; it assists the members with doing so.

Headed into the new year, Hunt said she hopes the administrative team will help foster partnerships and feed off of the community’s input. 

“We’ve always tried to be a resource for the community, so if there was a need, they could come to us, and we can try to get through some of the red tape that citizen may have,” Danny McKinney, OCIA’s treasurer and MLK celebration director, said. 

OCIA has partnered with many organizations in the Oviedo area to bring change to the community. Hunt said the non-profit set its sights on partnering with other groups after deciding they “can’t do everything for everybody.” The collaborations allows OCIA to focus its energy on assisting and improving the work being done by existing organizations.

“Why reinvent the wheel when we can partner?” Hunt said.

The organization has previously partnered with Parks and Recreation, East Coast Believers Dream Center, Seminole County voters registration office, Improving Oviedo Neighborhoods, Boys and Girls Club of Oviedo, and the Black Student Union at Hagerty High School. In 2024, the group partnered with Oviedo Community News and the League of Women Voters of Seminole County to host a candidate forum for the city council election. Through additional community partnerships, OCIA has helped students get glasses, completed road paving, educational programming, road clean ups and other local events.

Youth Initiatives 

The Youth Exposure Saves program exposes young members of the community to events and opportunities they would not otherwise have, Hunt said.

In the past, OCIA took students and teenagers to the theater, football games and other events. The organization is able to transport people since one of the OCIA members is a retired Seminole County school bus driver with her Commercial Driver’s License, and the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church allows OCIA to use its bus for free, McKinney said.

In addition to the YES program, McKinney said OCIA works with Hagerty High School and Oviedo High School to offer its students community service hours through OCIA’s events. 

OCIA’s biggest youth event so far was its financial literacy workshop where over 30 young people attended the event, Hunt said. She said she thinks there was a need for youth to understand the economy and have the opportunity to ask questions.

The workshop was so successful that OCIA began hosting more financial literacy workshops and opened them to all members of the community, not just the youth.

Mark Jama is an investment professional who promotes financial literacy. When he joined OCIA, he did not know the organization was looking to teach financial matters. He constructed the course “How Money Works” to cover mortgages, investments, insurance and how to become debt free. Jama said the biggest benefit attendees will take away is knowing how to apply the courses’ principles to their daily spending habits.

“They’ll be able to know what to do to get out of debt, and how important it is to put money away for retirement because retirement is not an age,” Jama said. “Most people give me an age, but it’s a dollar amount.”

So far, Jama has hosted three financial sessions with OCIA and is planning the next one in April. 

OCIA is set to host its annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations this weekend, including the Community Prayer Breakfast Saturday morning and Parade and Festival Monday morning. Learn more in Oviedo Community News’ weekly listing.

Hunt reiterated that everything OCIA does for the community is free, but the non-profit organization won’t know how to help if the community doesn’t let them know what is needed. She encourages the public to inform OCIA of issues that matter to them.

“If you don’t express your need to us,” Hunt said. “Then you know, we can’t be of any help to you.” 

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