MASON, Mich. — The impacts of the pandemic have drastically impacted youth mental health in Mason, and the most recent data shows that crisis calls involving suicide and self harm have doubled since 2019.
"Since COVID, our crisis calls have gone up 50%, and our police officers are, they're all undergoing training through Ingham region. And this helps them facilitate and help families that are calling them," said Mason City Council member Rita Vogel.
According to the state of Michigan, the third leading cause of death among high school age students is suicide, and the risks are higher for children in rural communities.
"Our high school is getting a lot of officer calls. There were 35 I believe for harm, our middle school has 11. And so these numbers continue to rise where young people are trying to communicate, and so we're trying to teach families the language of support," said Vogel.
Vogel and other members of the Mason City Council have worked together to provide resources and training to officers who may be responding to these crisis calls.
The Community Mental Health Authority of Clinton, Eaton, and Ingham Counties (CMHA-CEI) helps to give out resources and other information to families about the language of support. One of these training courses is QPR, Question, Persuade, Refer. And yes, QPR is supposed to sound like CPR. The goal is to use it as mental health CPR.
"It is awareness for some of the things we might notice around us whose having a different moment or is in a crisis, and then, it some thoughts about what can we do as those concerned community members to support that person in getting help on an ongoing basis," said CMHA-CEI senior mental health therapist Jennifer Cronkite.
CMHA-CEI also offers mobile crisis services for residents of the three counties that live in rural areas or don't have a reliable mode of transportation.
"We've been really encouraging families and communities to remember is our mobile crisis services. That means we have teams of therapists and other mental health staff that will come out to meet with families where they are in the community," said Cronkite.
Vogel's interest in partnering with CMHA-CEI for training and awareness began at home, as she and her family learned to navigate mental health struggles together.
"My story, my genesis in this is actually personal. My oldest had struggled, we've been public sharing our story. I did not understand the language of support I was doing of course what the doctors were suggesting, but I really didn't understand what mental health was, and I still struggle with that. I still educate myself. I surround myself with people who know better, yeah that's a big one," said Vogel.
If your or a loved one is seeking mental health services, you can call the Community Mental Health Authority of Clinton, Eaton, and Ingham Counties at (517) 346-8244.
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