Conversations with Kelli Melissa Hansen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelli Melissa Hansen.

Hi Kelli Melissa, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My journey began in 2017 when I lost my middle sister Carrie to a complete suicide. I knew I didn’t want to sit around and do nothing, however, the first year after her death I was merely surviving vs. living. I ended up taking some time off of my current job at the time when one day I felt like I hit an emotional brick wall. I went to therapy and then a couple of months later found an incredible three-day event that introduced me to NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). With one of the sessions we did I was able to forgive my sister and forgive myself which became the true beginning of my journey and led me to create and start my nonprofit called BCC Evolution.

BCC is Because Carrie Cared also plays off the blind carbon copy email theory. You know that line you can put a bunch of people’s emails and they never know who else is there, that is how I think about mental health, it is there, but you may not know who else is there. And Evolution, because we are ever-evolving. BCC Evolution officially became a 501c3 nonprofit organization on June 30, 2018.

Since then I have dedicated my life to educating everyone that will listen about mental health and suicide awareness. I didn’t understand what my sister was going through because I never cared to educate myself due to her attempting suicide six other times. I shut my emotions off to her because I couldn’t understand why she didn’t want to be on this planet. Had I tried to understand maybe I would have been able to recognize the signs and symptoms to have the hard conversations with her, so maybe I could have saved her life. This is why everything we do at BCC Evolution is about education, opening up the conversation and bringing awareness to these hard topics.

If we can break down the stigma around mental health and open up the conversation then we can start saving lives.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The road has been challenging for sure. I was working in a corporate job for the first three years after I founded BCC Evolution. I left my corporate job in May of 2021 and jumped into the nonprofit full time. I thought we had a good base after three years, however, found out quickly that the organization had a lot of things we needed to create and perfect. Being a nonprofit is not easy as there are a lot more rules and regulations around how business is conducted and funding seems to always be the biggest challenge. Seems to be for most other nonprofits I talked with also, so I know I’m not alone on this one.

The business model needed to be taken out of my head as the Founder and put onto paper so that we had an actual business plan. I also found that a nonprofit cannot sustain on donations and fundraisers only. There has to be a way to generate revenue or you will not survive. The myth that nonprofits cannot generate revenue needs to be smashed. Nonprofits are businesses also and should be run as a business to truly make an impact on their demographics. There are a lot more places that nonprofits also have to register to be considered legit, so that has been an adventure all in itself.

I also found that the demographics we were trying to serve were way too big, we needed to narrow that down so that we could really truly make an impact. The original demographics we chose was Teachers/Youth, Health Care Professionals, Military and Manual Laborers, however each of those are big in themselves. So we narrowed it down to people who want to get educated about helping other people. Our goal is to close the gap between the time a person is diagnosed with a mental health challenge and when they are able to get professional or holistic help which could be weeks to months depending on the waitlist. The mental health world is so inundated that there are not enough providers to meet the needs currently. We want to put everyday people inside that gap that are educated about mental health to know how to identify the signs and symptoms of a mental health challenge, know how to have the hard conversations, ask the hard questions like “Are you going to kill yourself?” and know what to do with the answers.

Getting clarity on what we do exactly as an organization, the events that we offer yearly, the educational classes that we offer, and knowing who are target audience is has been transforming for the organization as a whole. As a helper and giver, I wanted to help everyone; which is also a characteristic of most people who start nonprofits; however I learned that is impossible, so narrowing down is key.

Other challenges we have had is keeping and recruiting board members that have the time and knowledge in the nonprofit space. It feels like a revolving door at times which makes it hard to really form a strong board that can lead the charge. Knowing that all board members are volunteers and they have their own jobs, lives, families and potential mental health challenges, it can be hard to get the commitment needed to be able to focus on the needs of the organization. We are still in the process of recruiting for more board members, so anyone reading this and interested please reach out. 😉

This is why we are ever-evolving, learning and growing. We are getting there day by day and learning to celebrate the little steps that lead to the big steps.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Well as I’ve already talked about I am the Founder of the nonprofit BCC Evolution which is a 501c3 mental health and suicide awareness nonprofit. I am the most proud of transforming the tragedy of losing my sister who died by suicide and creating my nonprofit. I didn’t choose this journey, however it has been one of the most rewarding and challenging journeys I have ever taken.

BCC Evolution aims to ACE; increase Awareness, cultivate Conversation and provide Education.

Our mission is to empower people to get educated and speak out about mental health and suicide so that we break down the stigma and start saving lives.

Our vision is to stop the stigma and normalize the conversation about mental health and suicide through educational classes and community events to reach one million people by 2030.

BCC offers three events throughout the year. In February we have our annual Gala, this year was a Hawaiian theme. Our 4th Annual Film Festival is coming up on May 22nd which will be hosted at the Bug Theatre in Denver, CO and showcase 14 short independent films from across the world. And in August or September, we will have our annual Cornhole FUNdraiser in Parker, CO.

Over the past four years, I personally have become an instructor for Mental Health First Aid in their Youth, Adult and Teen curriculums, received my NLP Master Practitioner Certification and will be getting my NLP Trainers certification this year. Over the past year I wrote a curriculum for BCC Evolution called “Breaking The Cycle of Trauma Master Education” which is complete and dates will be added to be trained in that very soon. I have authored chapters in 3 collaboration books set to come out this year in 2022 and have stepped into my power of being a professional keynote speaker and educator. I’ve designed some really cool programs online and in-person and started a YouTube show called Mental Health Mondays that goes live every Monday at 11am MST with special guests who are either professionals in the mental health space or guests who experience or live with a mental health challenge or guest who are mental health advocates. The last year specifically has been an incredible ride and is still evolving into even more amazing things as we speak.

I am always looking to collaborate, partner and build incredible things with incredible humans.

What matters most to you?
Everything that I do is because of my family. The reason I started my nonprofit is because of my sister. I truly believe she led me to where I am at today because she always believed in me more than I ever believed in myself and she knew that I was destined for greater things. I never wanted to lose my sister, especially in this manner, but what I have learned is that my family means everything to me. I do what I do so that I can leave a legacy for my family and the world.

Pricing:

• Shift Your Mindset Bootcamp: $49
• Mental Health First Aid Class: $147
• Breaking The Cycle of Trauma: $247
• BTCT Instructor: $997
• Speaking: Variable

Contact Info:

• Email: support@bccevolution.org
• Website: www.bccevolution.org
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/bccevolution
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/bccevolution
• Twitter: @bcc_evolution
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BCCEvolution/videos
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bcc-evolution-aurora?osq=bcc+evolution
• Other: https://www.google.com/search?q=BCC+Evolution