Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Youth Life host mental health roundtable
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - Indiana Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch returned to her hometown on Monday, November 18 to speak with local mental health professionals about some of the needs and concerns surrounding mental health in the community.
Those in attendance spoke in detail about the critical issues people struggle with each and every day when it comes to their mental health.
However, the goal of today’s discussion was not to just talk about mental health, rather address what needs to be done to improve it amongst those in the community.
“We want to have that discussion on where we are, what we are doing and what we can do to continue to help them,” said Crouch.
These conversations aimed to address critical issues, including access to care and resources for communities in need.
“People may be a little aware of what is going on in the community, but they aren’t aware of everything that is going on in the community,” said Crouch. “One of the takeaways is the people that are here learn more about the resources available. That helps them get more help to those that need it.”
Crouch said discussions like these are crucial in helping address the stigma behind mental health.
That is why she requested the help of Youth First to co-host the discussion with her.
Youth First is an organization that aims to strengthen the mental health and well-being of young people in Southern and Central Indiana.
Officials with the organization said that the biggest takeaway from today’s discussion was the lack of people entering the mental health job field.
“We need to step up our recruitment and encouragement of young people to go into mental health professions. We need that to be a diverse workforce so that they are serving all kinds of populations, able to remove stigma and build trust,” said Parri Black, President & CEO of Youth First
These problems surrounding mental health not only affect people personally, but economically as well.
“It affects our workforce and it affects the bottom line. Yes, it has to continue to be a priority. Otherwise, it will be a flavor of the month and people will forget about it,” said Crouch.
“These are essential things that we need to address as communities and statewide to build a real robust system of mental health support for our young people,” said Black.
Some of the other issues and concerns some professionals addressed - aside from the shortage of mental health professionals and economic impact - were the effects of social media, fear of cultural stigma and a lack of mental health programs.
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