Many of you may not be aware that there exists a dedicated group of people in our community working to meet the health-care needs of our residents. The Citizens’ Health Advisory Council (CHAC) is an open coalition of interested residents and organizations that advocates for community health and wellness in La Plata County by serving as a central point for communication and collaboration.
For almost a year now, the coalition has been working on a mental-health and substance-use project that has a broad integrated care and wellness focus with the hope to complete the plan before July, paving the way for community implementation within a system of health care during the next three to five years.
The catalyst for this project started Jan. 16, when President Barack Obama directed Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan to launch a national conversation about behavioral health. The goal is to reduce the shame and secrecy associated with mental illness and substance use; encourage people to seek help if they are struggling with behavioral health problems; and encourage those whose friends or family are struggling to connect them to help.
In May of this year, CHAC held a Behavioral Health Call to Action mini-summit with almost 80 people in attendance to talk about “Community Behavioral Health and Wellness and what that might look like in La Plata County.” As a result of this summit, they formalized this vision statement for behavioral health: “La Plata County is a community where behavioral health is part of comprehensive health-care delivery; where collaborative and integrated care is the norm that sustains optimal well-being for all.”
With the vision in hand, CHAC requested and received funding to move forward with the action step of convening local conversations about behavioral health to inform the development of a La Plata County Plan. These meetings provide people a chance to learn more about mental-health issues, including assessing how mental-health problems affect their communities, mental health of young people, services available, and existing and future prevention programs. These conversations will jump-start our community to decide how they might take steps to improve behavioral health in families, schools and address behavioral health in a way that compliments existing local activities in our community health-care programs.
If you are interested in becoming a part of this conversation or just want to learn more about what is happening in your community to address behavioral health, please visit The Citizens Health Advisory Council at www.chaclaplata.org.
Liza Fischer is the Office of Member and Family Affairs Coordinator for Axis Health System. She can be reached at lfischer@axishealthsystem.org or (970) 335-2206.
