FLUD
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Please join us for our first annual fundraiser...
Glow In the Dark 5k
The Foundation for Lighting Up the Dark
Coming May 16th 2025
Early Bird Pricing through March 31st!
The Foundation for
Lighting Up the Dark
Bridging the gap between professional mental
health care and those who need it.
We are the action after the awareness.
Professional Mental
Healthcare is Expensive...
Roughly 60% of Americans who have a diagnosable
mental illness do not seek treatment, citing cost as a
major factor. Of those who do attend therapy, almost
a third canceled or reduced the number of sessions
due to cost.
FLUD wants to help pay for your mental health
treatment. Those who earnestly seek help with their
mental health should receive it. It’s simple, really.
But FLUD believes that cost should
not be a barrier.
Our Main
Goals
Fundraising -
- This non-profit runs
entirely on local
donations. We believe
that the healthiest
communities are the
ones who invest in
each other.
F
Lighten -
- Struggling with mental
health can feel like the
sun won’t shine again.
We want to lighten
burdens, and bring a
little more love and
light into each others’
lives.
L
Understand -
- We eagerly seek
opportunities to
collaborate with others
to educate and bring
awareness of locally
available resources and
self-care strategies to
our community.
U
Distribute -
The FLUD Relief Fund
exists soley to help
individuals, couples
and families to invest
in thier mental health
and relationships,
even if they can’t
afford it.
D
Our Mission
Recognizing your need for help with your
mental health should be the hardest part.
Once you take that crucial first step, FLUD
wants to be there to help the rest of your
journey be smooth sailing.
The FLUD Relief Fund is our
primary mission. Clients work with
their chosen providers to determine
the number of sessions and the
amount of funds needed. Once your
provider has submitted the
application for FLUD Relief, we take
care of the rest.
Community education is our secondary mission. Making sure the community is aware of the local resources that are available to them beyond therapy is pivotal to long-term success.
Clinician Feedback
What You Can Expect from Working with FLUD
As a result of [FLUD’s] services my
client has been able to keep their job
and greatly improve the stability and
outlook for their family's future. I do
appreciate that F.L.U.D. requires
clients using the funding to also
financially contribute to their
counseling appointments.
- FLUD is doing a great job at making
counseling services more attainable to
those most at risk in our community.
Paul R. Garn, LCPC
- My experience with [FLUD] as a
provider in the community has been
nothing but positive. I have been able
to use their funds for clients who are
in need of additional support to
continue making progress in their
therapy journey, that would have
otherwise gone unaddressed. I fully
support their mission and their
dedication to our community by
finding a way to provide assistance to
clients who need it to supplement
their mental health treatment costs.
Dr. Michael Whitehead
I have many clients who need
counseling, have the desire to do the
work, but do not have health
insurance, or they have coverage that
has such a high deductible that they
cannot financially survive paying for
counseling. Mental health is important
to quality of life, and our physical
wellness.
- We already have clients that have
benefitted from this non-profit
program.
Christine J Chugg, LCSW
Client Feedback
The Impact the FLUD Relief Fund has on Real People
I was a victim of child abuse by my mother and her boyfriends, to be taken by my father at age 8 to be sold to others... For years I
had no self worth, no self love, no idea how to act and most of all I didn’t know why I was put here just to be unloved and abused. I
hobbled through life as if I were a piece of trash who deserved nothing good. Fast forward to 2024... still trying to get my life
together and take control of my life once and for all, to deal with my issues head on. Now at the age of 65 I’m desperate to heal,
move forward and be all I was meant to be, to learn how to love and be loved and so, so much more. I was asked if I was ready to go
through the difficult process [of healing through therapy] and I said I was. But I didn’t have the financial ability to get the services I
needed.
The counseling I received was the medicine I had been looking for, and without [FLUD] I would still be in the place that has robbed
me of my life. I am now a changed person and have a new life, a chance at living my elder years in a new found peace, a new found
freedom to get to know myself and who I am.
- Thank you a million times over... for you foundation and what you have truly done to change my life.
“Alive and Thriving”
About Us
President - Emma Cherry, LCSW
Treasurer - Jessica Anderson
Secretary - Kate Motes
Intern Extraordinaire - Annalisa Jepson
info@theflud.org
Follow us online
FLUD values diversity and inclusion. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds,
regardless of race, gender, orientation, or any other protected status.
Contact Us
*Clinicians Only*
Find a Therapist
Apply for Funding
FLUD Provider Package (coming soon)
The Foundation for
Lighting Up the Dark
FLUD Approved Providers
in the Magic Valley
Paul Garn
Michael Whitehead
Christine Chugg
The Foundation for Lighting Up the Dark
Annual Lighting Up the Bridge Fundraiser
It’s not fun to talk about, but it’s reality - our beautiful Perrine Bridge has become a
place where each year, our community experiences some devastating losses.
We’d like to help change that stigma by bringing light and love to the bridge during
National Mental Health Awareness Month.
Each May, community members will take their FLUD Lights, line the west side of the
Perrine Bridge standing side-by-side, and take a few brief minutes to hold space
and light for those who have lost their battles there. The community will come
together to mourn, honor, and provide hope to each other.
This is our vision at FLUD. To not only acknowledge and bring awareness of this
very real, very scary human issue - but to become the action toward real change.