Mental Health &
Substance Abuse

For the first time since Healthy Communities began conducting Community Health Needs Assessments in 1996, Mental Health and Substance Abuse rose to the top of the list of unmet needs in our 2015 survey. For this reason, the Healthy Communities Council decided to provide a home and support to a community group that had been meeting on these issues for a couple of years.

The Mental Health and Substance Abuse Team officially came under the Healthy Communities umbrella in late 2015 and received funding to support a part-time staff member from the Columbus Regional Hospital Foundation in early 2016.

The Team’s goals are focused on:

• Changing the conversation about mental illness and addiction in order to decrease the stigma that so often keeps people from seeking help.
• With a suicide rate that surpasses state and national averages, a goal of zero suicide has been adopted. To that end, the team is working with various provider offices to routinely screen for depression and suicide risk.