About Our Session

●       Participants will be introduced to the four-step be nice. action plan, an action plan for mental health education and suicide prevention.

●       Participants will practice understanding of noticing changes in mental health, inviting educated, caring conversations, challenging stigma/challenging someone to seek help, and empowering with protective factors and mental resilience.

●       Participants will understand the need for upstream, sustainable mental health programming in the workplace and a common language for mental health and suicide prevention.

About Our Speaker

Christy Buck - Executive Director, Founder of be nice.

With more than 36 years of experience in the mental health field, Christy’s passion for transforming and saving lives through mental health education led her to develop two mental health and suicide prevention programs - be nice. and be nice.extension (formerly Live Laugh Love). Since 2006, she and her staff have passionately presented to over 300,000 people in West Michigan on mental health awareness, bullying, and suicide prevention. She has been the keynote speaker at many events and regularly delivers speaking engagements to community and business groups on mental health awareness. Christy’s determination to make mental health a part of the conversation has led to her involvement with numerous community organizations and coalitions along with becoming a certified instructor for QPR and Mental Health First Aid, for which she has been recognized as one of the Top 100 instructors in the country. Christy has been awarded wonderful honors for her work including the American Red Cross Hometown Hero Award, 50 Most Influential Women In West Michigan, Daughters of the American Revolution Women In History Award, and was honored as a finalist for the Brilliance Awards Woman of the Year. Of all of her accomplishments, her family brings her the most joy. She earned the title of yiayia two years ago and now has three beautiful grandchildren, and is the proud mom of Demetrios, Katerina, and Isabella with her hubby Tim. Christy protects her mental health by dominating in trivia every Wednesday night with her friends and spending time at her second home in Manistee, Michigan. She is a proud graduate of Michigan State University (Go Green!) and is a devoted member of the Greek Orthodox Church.

Cat Lanting - Program Director

Catherine (Cat) started at the Foundation as an AmeriCorps member in 2011. With her passion for the be nice.action plan, and belief that four simple steps can change someone's hour, their day, and/or their life, she has stepped into the role of Program Director. Seeing its potential and setting goals for be nice.programming to be accessible to any individual is her priority, but instructing all of the MHF's offered programs (including the be nice. action plan to kindergartners through senior citizens, be nice.extension, Mental Health First Aid, and QPR) is still where she finds much joy.