In the last few months, the number of cases of heroin use and overdoses has grown our area and the state, and the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board decided to take a stand against the numbers with the first ever Community Action Commission on the Opiate Epidemic in Allen County. Community leaders were encouraged to be a part of the commission to hit the problem from different angles.
"We have elected officials - the mayor, we have judges, we have the county commissioners - they're representing the elected officials," said Mike Schoenhofer, Executive Director of the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board. "We have school superintendents representing the schools, we have churches here representing churches, treatment providers, and the business community as well."
While much of the focus has been on the treatment of opiate use, the commission hoped to take a different view.
"I'm trying to change people's focus from the treatment aspect to the prevention aspect and really taking care of our community," said Schoenhofer.
Prevention can come in different ways, and the commission was focusing specifically with helping children to try and avoid the heroin epidemic hitting the next generation.
"We're talking about mental health first aid and mental health first aid for youth where we understand what are the risks and what are the protective factors that we can help build in our kids for that resiliency," said Donna Dickman, Executive Director of the Partnership for Violence Free Families. "The other one we're talking about is the 'Triple R' program, so it's 'Refuse, Remove, and Reason with the folks' for our young people."
While this might only be the first time that the commission has met, it is addressing a problem that isn’t going away overnight: "This is an issue that's going to take us years to deal with and to change the way we approach things," said Schoenhofer.
But having the community work together may make the process a little easier.
