VALDOSTA — VocalFlo Entertainment presented the Mental Wealth Center with a donation from the inaugural South Georgia Gospel Festival held earlier this month.

The Southern Georgia Black Chambers hosted its Off The Clock: Networking Mixer Thursday at the Mental Wealth Center.

SGBC hosts events for entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals from various industries to have meaningful connections and valuable conversations, chamber representatives said, while expanding its contacts and exploring potential collaborations.

The organization collaborated with VocalFlo Entertainment to support the efforts of the Mental Wealth Center.

Kimberly Grisson-Dixon said she and her husband, Adrien, owners of VocalFlo, were looking for a nonprofit to support and bring awareness to the cause.

Grisson-Dixon said, “We admire their efforts in mental health, especially bringing awareness to men’s mental health which is why we decided to partner to bring greater awareness to what they are doing.”

VocalFlo hosted a silent auction at the South Georgia Gospel Festival where all funds went to support the Mental Wealth Center.

She said with June recognized as Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month to address specific challenges and barriers men face, the link for donations to the Mental Wealth Center will remain online until the end of the month.

The Mental Wealth Center hosted its first Men’s Mental Health conference in April 2023 with more than 100 men in attendance.

Demetria M. Hill, Ph.D., LPC, MAC, said the men’s mental health initiative began with a husband whose wife was seeking professional help and he asked where do men go to seek mental health support.

Hill had a women’s support group titled, “My Strong Friend,” and with the help of JaTariya Thomas and her husband, Quincy, they began “My Brothers Keeper.”

Both JaTariya and Quincy are licensed and trained therapeutic life coaches under Hill.

Thomas said she and Hill joined forces in 2012 after realizing how much their services and needs aligned in the community they served.

While Thomas worked as a tax preparer, she found herself being a “therapist” to many of her clients.

“People ask all the time ‘what I do?’ I always say it just depends on what day it is,” Thomas said. “We are just trying to minimize the red tape that people have to go through in order to get the resources that they need.”

From that mission, the Mental Wealth Center was born. Allowing Hill to bring the mental component and Thomas to bring the wealth component.

Hill and Thomas offer tax planning and preparation, tutoring and workforce development for school-age children, basic legal assistance and a host of other services.

Thomas said, “We do not claim to know everything but we can certainly connect you to the people that can assist your needs.”

The Mental Wealth Center and VocalFlo Entertainment are Founding Fifty Members of the Southern Georgia Black Chambers.