By Anna Skinner
Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness held a mental health panel luncheon July 24 to provide a report to the community on what Fishers is doing to address the issue. The panel consisted of Hamilton Southeastern Schools Assistant Supt. Mike Beresford, HSE Schools Mental Health Coordinator Brooke Lawson, Inspiring Transformations CEO Suzanne Clifford, Fishers Fire Dept. Chief Steve Orusa and Fadness.
To kick off the luncheon, Fadness shared what inspired his vision for increasing mental health awareness in the city and creating more avenues for those struggling.
“I was riding along with a police officer, and I ask a simple, innocent question that has led me on this journey for the last 2 1/2 years, and that question was, ‘What are the calls that concern you the most?’” Fadness said. “I thought (the officer) would say armed burglaries, car chases, domestic violence, but the gentleman said to me, immediate detentions. He said, ‘We go to these calls and these people are in such bad mental health shape we think they are going to harm to themselves or someone else, and it’s a completely unpredictable scenario.’”
Fadness said he asked the officer how often those immediate detentions occur, and he was told once every other shift. Last week, there were seven in the city.
“My natural curiosity led me to star talking to the police and fire chiefs and look into the numbers,” Fadness said. “The issue is real. If the community was to marshal collective resources toward this issue, what can we do and what should we do? I’ve been very fortunate and blessed to have a group of people in this effort.”
Included in the luncheon was an update from Beresford and Lawson on how HSE is handling students dealing with mental health issues. If a student were to be involved in an immediate detention through police or fire services, the school is notified to assist that student upon returning to school.
Other topics discussed were expanding paramedic training to include more on mental health in the future and encouraging families to find their loved ones help sooner so they don’t require as many drastic efforts or resources when they receive the help they need.
