May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so it was fitting that the annual meeting of Mental Health Matters Bartholomew County took place just ahead of the start of the month.
More than 300 people turned out at The Commons for a much-anticipated report on what the Mental Health Matters initiative has accomplished in its first year as well as plans for what is to come.
Here are some of the developments, as The Republic’s Brian Blair reported:
- United Way of Bartholomew County on June 1 will launch a new website, United We Help. Local United Way President Mark Stewart said the website will help those struggling with mental illness connect with basic human needs such as housing.
- Bartholomew Consolidated Schools Corp. Superintendent Jim Roberts said the schools have hired a family engagement coordinator, and a planned partnership with the Cook Center will provide parent resources via the website parentguides.org that will go live in a few weeks.
These noteworthy developments will further strides that the community has made since the Mental Health Matters initiative began. They are aimed at providing help to people when they need it most. “Poor mental health is often amplified when we cannot meet our most basic needs,” Stewart noted.
At the one-year milestone, Mental Health Matters has assembled a growing community coalition that recognizes and is finding new ways to deal with a crisis for which care in some cases is the only cure. As Cheryl Buffo, project lead of Mental Health Matters, told the crowd, “she, like many others, is learning as she goes,” Blair wrote.
“This is something that was kind of a big aha moment for me: Serious mental illnesses are not preventable and they’re not curable, but they are treatable, and that’s really key,” Buffo said. “So if we can provide people with early intervention, treatment, and support, people with serious mental illness can lead healthy, high-functioning lives.”
And in those respects, there is welcome good news.
“Columbus Regional Health has been the sole adult inpatient crisis facility in our community for over three decades — a time when many other facilities closed their doors,” CRH president and CEO Jim Bickel said. “And most recently, Columbus Regional Health’s Adult Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit was recognized as the nation’s top-scoring facility when it comes to patient and family satisfaction.”
That’s impressive, and CRH also is to be commended for taking a lead role in the Mental Health Matters initiative, pledging $1.2 million for a coordinated response to a crisis in our community.
We don’t use the term “crisis” lightly. People in Bartholomew County experience fair or poor mental health at a rate twice the national average, according to Mental Health Matters. A little more than one in four county residents reports experiencing fair or poor mental health. About 6% live with a serious mental illness.
The Mental Health Matters initiative demonstrates that, as a community, we want better for those who are facing mental health challenges. We want to help. We’re committed to doing better, so that others also may do better. And we’re just getting started.
To learn more about Mental Health Matters, including how you can get involved, visit mhmbc.org.
