The Summit County Department of Health wants 2,000 responses to its online mental health survey.
Health Director Phil Bondurant says the survey is conducted every two years through the department’s Mental Wellness Alliance arm. It helps health officials decide where to allocate their limited funding.
“Some of the previous successes that have come from these surveys as we've established our MCOT, our Mobile Crisis Outreach Team, we've increased the number of Spanish speaking clinicians, and of course, we've increased access to services here in Summit County,” he said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Dec. 8.
MCOTs handle mental health crises calls that historically were referred to police. Their role is to get appropriate care to people in need and reduce call volumes for officers.
According to Bondurant, the past survey results show 40% of Summit County residents are receiving mental health care.
He said that might alarm some people, but at the same time, the Mental Wellness Alliance works to reduce the stigma around mental health care.
“So while we don't want to see that number necessarily grow, we understand that when we remove the stigma around something, we should expect increases in the number of people receiving care,” Bondurant said.
The survey is funded by the Park City Community Foundation and national Katz Amsterdam Foundation.
In early December, Summit County councilmembers Megan McKenna and Roger Armstrong asked constituents to share and participate in the survey. They serve as council liaisons to the health department on behavioral and mental health.
“It's completely confidential,” Armstrong said at the council’s Dec. 3 meeting. “Megan and I asked how the data is collected. Nobody is going to know that it’s you responding.”
The survey is open until Feb. 7 and is available in both English and Spanish.
Summit County is a financial supporter of KPCW.
