Last Saturday, Pittman-Sullivan Park on San Antonio's East Side was alive with the sounds of baseball. Burgers and hot dogs sizzled on a grill. Hands slapped together in high-fives. The unmistakable crack of wood on cowhide resonated beyond the outfield.
Dixon approached Joel Rivas — founder of the Saint City and Heard, a nonprofit focused on providing mental health and tele-health services to bar and restaurant workers — late last year about forging a partnership that would allow the team to operate under the foundation's umbrella. "We have seen a lot more of the normalization of talking about therapy, people saying they're not okay and looking for help ... that doesn't mean there has been a decrease in people relying on substances to aid that, but that trend has been encouraging," Saint City Culinary Foundation founder Rivas said."But out of all of the programs we've run across the U.S., San Antonio is one of the hardest to get people to buy into mental health and wellness.