Marcia Ramstrom Supports Mental Health

In 2013, Marcia Ramstrom sold most of her possessions, rented out her house, and moved her daughter Grace and herself into her RV. Why? Marcia had a mission.

After a stint as a high school teacher, Marcia decided to earn a master’s degree and a credential in school counseling. During her subsequent decade-long counseling career, she encountered at-risk youth who could not get the help they truly needed. These kids struggled with many adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), prompting behaviors reflective of conditions like anxiety and depression. “As educators, we often try to discipline undesired behavior out of students,” Marcia explains. “But these kids aren’t just being bad. It’s a skill deficit. If they don’t have the skills, sending them to the principal’s office doesn’t help. If children fail at math, we don’t suspend them from school and expect them to come back better at math. It’s our job to teach them the skills they lack and give them time to practice.”

Marcia knew she needed to act. She took extreme measures—including consolidating her household into her RV to cut costs—to found Lotus Educational Services, Inc. Lotus is a mental health agency designed to help youth overcome childhood trauma as well as mental illnesses like anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. The agency contracts with schools to provide in-person and tele-counseling services for youth under age 21. Lotus also offers training and education for parents, educators, and community members to facilitate helping those facing mental illness.

“Mental health challenges for children are on the rise,” Marcia says. “In any given year, one out of five kids and one out of four adults struggle with mental illness. Lifetime prevalence is one out of every two people! Why aren’t we doing more toward prevention?” In the name of prevention and mental health awareness, Marcia’s team of over 20 clinicians will provide mental health services to hundreds of children in about a dozen schools in California during the 2019-2020 school year.

Marcia also concentrates on suicide prevention, an issue especially close to her heart since losing her brother to suicide in 2009. She has served as chair for Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk and started a suicide loss support group entitled Good Grief! She shares an anxiety, depression, and suicide-prevention presentation called “More Than Sad” for grades 8-12, volunteers with Shasta County Suicide

Prevention Work Group, and acts as an unofficial on-call suicide intervention resource.
In her spare time, Marcia enjoys RV-ing, hiking, biking, water sports, being a fitness coach, and sleeping. “Sleep is the number one thing I need for my mental health,” she says, citing sleep deprivation as a factor in the rising numbers of mental illness. Marcia began to struggle with depression in junior high and notes that many children begin to experience depression and anxiety as young as eight years old. How Marcia finds enough hours in the day to get good sleep remains a mathematical mystery, although she credits her ADHD for giving her extra energy. “I think a lot of entrepreneurs have ADHD,” she says with a laugh. “I tell kids ADHD stinks when you’re a kid because you get in trouble, but as an adult, you’re going to love it.”

Marcia’s energy translates to “many amazing ideas floating in her head,” as her longtime friend and neighbor Terri Shaheen puts it. “This is one woman who has always had kids’ welfare at heart,” Terri says. “As a person, I love Marcia. As a valuable resource to the community, I can’t say enough about her.” Melissa Morris, a Lotus school counselor, agrees: “Marcia is an amazing woman who is passionate about helping our community by sharing her voice and knowledge.”

Kerri Schuette, who met Marcia through Shasta County Health and Human Services about ten years ago, sends her staff to the eight-hour “Mental Health First Aid” training Marcia teaches. “I get some eye-rolls,” she says. “But without exception, they come back the next day and say it was the most impactful training they’ve ever had.” On a camping trip, one of Kerri’s staff noticed a teenage boy sitting alone. The staff member approached the boy and learned he struggled with sadness and suicidal thoughts. Before, this woman might not have approached the boy, but Marcia’s training equipped her with the words and resources to share. “That’s just one story,” Kerri says. “So, I can’t imagine how many lives Marcia has saved.”