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Mental Health Community Forum Held at Library

The Northfield News - 8/3/2017

Montpelier, VT? Washington County Mental Health Services and VAMHAR

Washington County Mental Health Services and VAMHAR co-sponsored the second in a series of community forums titled- Mental Health Crises and Services in Washington County: What Do We Have? What Do We Need? The event was held in Northfield at the Brown Public Library on July 20th, and there was a nice turnout on this beautiful summer evening.

At the first forum, held in Montpelier in June, participants explored topics ranging from the challenge hospital emergency rooms have with boarding mental health patients waiting for in-patient beds to community wide trauma and how to lessen its impacts. Last Thursday's forum revisited similar topics as well as the importance of communication between service providers and between providers and the public at large. The discussion yielded some clear insights, including the realization that Vermont's system of care already has many of the services needed to help individuals and communities become and remain healthy. Participants also noted that as a state, Vermont is looked to as a model for compassionate and results-based care. One take away from the evening centered on finding more ways to promote proactive, wellness based supports when people need small amounts of support as opposed to the use of invasive, crisis based supports when someone's life has reached an unhealthy, unsafe place.

The forum was moderated by Peter Mallary of VAMHAR. Other forum participants were Mary Moulton, WCMHS CEO; Mark Depman M.D., CVMC; Chief Bill Jennings, Northfield Police Chief; Rep. Anne Donahue, Northfield Representative; Karen Boyce, The Veteran's Place, Northfield; and Kreig Pinkham, Director of Washington County Youth Service Bureau. Each forum member offered a unique perspective for the topics discussed, and their expertise across the spectrum of community services brought clarifying and helpful information to the conversation.

Participants were again encouraged by this second public forum, and it was clear that there was more to be discussed when the evening ended. Mary Moulton and the WCMHS team are setting up the next forum in Plainfield this August. More details will be released soon on time/date and location. Visit the WCMHS website at www.wcmhs.org or the WCMHS Facebook page for updates.

WCMHS is a comprehensive community mental health center providing mental health and developmental services throughout the Washington County community. Over 7,000 individuals are served annually by this private, non-profit organization with main offices in South Barre, Vermont.

VAMHAR, the Vermont Association of Mental Health & Addiction Recovery, is a statewide information and advocacy organization that supports all paths to recovery from addiction and mental health conditions.