MONTPELLIER, Vermont (WCAX) – How much damage has the pandemic done to mental and emotional health in Vermont? Many things in society are delivered the default way, even though they don’t: one size fits all for healthcare, education, and employment.”

Hauser launched the nonprofit All Brains Belong Vermont during the pandemic to bring people with all kinds of neurological and behavioral disorders together to promote good health. Due to the stress brought on by Covid, Houser wanted to find a way to have an open conversation about mental health issues that everyone could participate in.

“It’s about integrating the principles of what our organization does into the rest of the community,” Hauser said.

The organization calls the event the Community Health Education Fair. The day offered a drive-in clinic for children who may need to fidget with toys during vaccinations. They also had various vendors specializing in mental health practices. During the fair, there were many speakers discussing how to stay safe in school, how to prevent bullying and, of course, mental health.

“No one really wants to talk about being bullied or bullies. It’s hard on both sides,” said Adrian Gilles of Montpelier.

Adrienne Gil said someone close to her had a bad experience being bullied in middle school. She is here today to discuss how to solve this problem at school.

“It’s really hard to have a conversation and take it out in public and let people know. But my daughter thought it was very important to have this conversation.” Gil commented.

Hauser said that by having this open conversation, the organization’s goal is to get people to re-imagine the systems of our society and have more awareness of how others might react to them. Matt Mulligan said he was diagnosed with a learning disability at age 40. Now he knows his differences are okay.

“There are so many systems in the world that tell people who are neurodiverse or who are different in some way that they need to be modified,” said Barre’s Mulligan.

“All Brains Belong” hopes that this event will inspire more conversations in our community about people with different problems for the future.

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