MANKATO — A new Mankato counseling practice is aiming to make mental health support more accessible, one conversation, workshop and connection at a time.
Mary Ssegirinya, owner of Brighter Days Counseling PLLC, focuses on creating a safe, non-judgmental space where people can, through telehealth, address daily stressors and develop plans for their mental health.
“It doesn’t matter your social economic status. It doesn’t matter your race, your culture, your age,” she said. “Mental health is very important, and it’s not talked about enough.”
Ssegirinya said her goal extends beyond individual counseling. With free mental health education workshops for nonprofits, shelters, schools, churches and other community organizations in the works, the sessions will address topics including mental health, self-care and crisis prevention.
She views mental health as part of a larger system of needs. In working with people experiencing homelessness, she said she has helped individuals navigate resources such as housing, childcare and transportation. Those experiences shaped her belief that community resources need to be better connected and easier for people to understand and access.
“I’ve seen individuals suffering and not knowing about programs that exist, not knowing where they were going to get their next meal, not knowing when they were going to get their rent paid,” she said.
Her approach is to look at the entirety of a person’s circumstances rather than treating mental health as an isolated issue, helping people learn practical tools for managing stress, calming the nervous system and problem-solving.
Ssegirinya said she also wants Brighter Days to be a resource for communities that may face barriers to seeking mental health care. She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and serves as the Southwest regional representative, the first Black woman to hold that position.
“I come with a lot of lived experiences, from different types of environments, different types of traumas I’ve seen myself, as a Black woman,” she said, adding that as far as she knows she’s the only licensed BIPOC social worker in the immediate area.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, licensed BIPOC social workers make up just under 3% in their field statewide.
“There’s a large gap of underrepresented people,” she said.
She said representation and cultural understanding are important to building trust, while also emphasizing that mental health concerns affect people across racial and cultural backgrounds.
Brighter Days also plans to provide support for parents and caregivers, and her work with families began before her career in clinical social work. Ssegirinya previously owned Patience N’ Bubbles Daycare in Mankato, and operating the childcare center, she said, gave her a firsthand view of parents dealing with the demands of work, childcare and family responsibilities.
While running the daycare, she was also completing her master’s degree in clinical social work. She said the experiences led her to develop ideas for community education and services that could address some of the gaps she saw among families.
Ben Dieffenbach, her clinical supervisor, meets with her regularly to discuss clients, clinical concerns, treatment approaches and case conceptualization. He said her lived experience and connection to local communities of color are a strength, particularly in helping reduce stigma around mental health care.
“When you see your practitioner who is a person of color very openly advocating for people to talk about mental health and address their mental health, I think that goes a long way in those communities to destigmatize that issue and create more openness for people to address it,” he said.
He believes her ability to serve rural communities through telehealth can also make therapy more accessible to people who may otherwise have limited access to mental health providers.
Looking ahead, Ssegirinya said she hopes to expand Brighter Days into a wellness center that would bring multiple services together in one location. She is currently looking for office space that could accommodate that future growth.
For now, she is focused on establishing the practice, building partnerships with local agencies and making educational mental health resources available to the community. Organizations interested in hosting workshops or partnering with Brighter Days can contact her through the practice’s website.
“Mankato can continue to grow with resources to help people in the community. We don’t necessarily need to go into the (Twin) Cities to find support. We can build the support here,” she said.
The name Brighter Days reflects the philosophy behind her practice. Ssegirinya said she wants people to have hope that tomorrow can be better than today, even if that improvement just comes in small moments.