CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

School board member pushes for county mental health study

Times - 10/18/2021

Oct. 18—CHESTERTON — Duneland School Board member Ronald Stone wants the Porter County Board of Commissioners to approve a new survey on mental health.

Stone had approached the commissioners in August about funding a $16,000 behavioral health needs assessment.

"If you're not going to pass it, let me know," he told the board this week. "I'll raise the money and do it myself."

"This is a big deal, and I'm not going to stop," he added.

Stone said Duneland is addressing mental health issues among its students. "It seems like after 18 years old, you're on your own."

"Our services are not good in Porter County," he said. "A lot of people know that. I just don't understand why we're not willing to pass this."

Commissioner Jim Biggs, R-North, said the problem isn't funding the study, which the county can easily afford. "There is some question what the scope should be."

Biggs promised to hammer it out with his fellow commissioners and County Attorney Scott McClure and either put the study on the next meeting's agenda or explain why.

McClure said the issue is figuring out the focus of the study to make sure action can be taken based on the results.

"If it's drug use, suicides, total state of mental health, let's look at what to do," he said. "Let's identify what we're attempting to do, and let's have that examined from stem to stern."

The Porter County Jail and law enforcement in general pose a different set of issues from the county as a whole, McClure said.

"I want more action than putting pinwheels up," Stone said.

At the same meeting, the board approved a request by County Council member Greg Simms, D-3rd, to place pinwheels on the courthouse grounds over the weekend in honor of suicide awareness.

___

(c)2021 The Times (Munster, Ind.)

Visit The Times (Munster, Ind.) at www.nwitimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.