A free mental health platform to help individuals cope with life experiences ranging from stress and parenting to caregiving and nutrition will be made available to all Bartholomew County residents this spring.
The platform is called CredibleMind, which requires participants to take short assessments to diagnose a mental health issue such as depression or anxiety. Once the assessments are completed, participants will have more than 20,000 resources to help guide them in handling those issues.
The county commissioners have given their approval to a three-year agreement with CredibleMind that will cost $8,910 annually, plus a $2,000 implementation fee. The platform is expected to become available to the public on April 30. The cost will be paid out of the county jail’s commissary fund, Chief Deputy Sheriff Major John Martoccia said.
The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department is working with Cheryl Boffo of the Mental Health Matters Initiative to bring the CredibleMind platform to the Columbus area. According to Boffo, it only takes five minutes or less to take each assessment. Once assessments are completed, all types of tools will be made available to those who use the digital platform on their smartphones or computers, Boffo said.
About 80% of the content on the CredibleMind platform originates from the University of California – Berkley, where the mental health information has been professionally vetted, Boffo said. But the remaining 20% features information unique to the Bartholomew County area, which includes local resources vetted by both the United Way and social workers, she said.
“Right now, about 75% of people are looking for their mental health care wherever they can find it, which is often Tik Tok or YouTube,” Boffo said. “None of those things are vetted.”
While confidentiality will be maintained, the CredibleMind platform does keep track of what type of mental health issues are prevalent in a community, so additional resources can be brought in to address the city or county’s most pressing problems, Boffo said.
The city of Fishers has already obtained the platform for its residents. Those who wish to see how the platform works can visit fishers.crediblemind.com, Boffo said.
