What Are The Mental Health Struggles Impacting Hoosiers?

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STATEWIDE–Mental health leaders in Indiana continue to argue for sustained investment by legislators in order to have the essential services required to treat those who need it.

One of those leaders is Stephanie Anderson, the Chief Operating Officer of Mental Health America Indiana.

“Suicide continues to be our biggest crisis. Folks feel hopeless and helpless and don’t know where to turn. When you’re feeling a sense of purposelessness in life, there are places you can go and people you can talk to help you realize that suicide isn’t the answer,” said Anderson.

She’s also concerned about addiction too as well as fentanyl and how that can play into it.

“Fentanyl keeps coming up through the border and up through Indiana and kill people at a frequency that is just disheartening,” said Anderson.

Anderson says both her and her team are also seeing some lasting effects on mental health from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We hear people talk all the time about the stresses caused by the pandemic, the civil unrest that happened, and the impacts of the last election. All of those are factors,” said Anderson.

You often hear the phrase “It’s okay not to be okay.” Anderson is a big believer in that phrase and she says saying it doesn’t make you weak.

“When people hear that and they can get their hands on resources that are available to them, we’ll see a huge impact throughout the state,” said Anderson.

On Friday, you’ll hear about the resources and the systems in place that Anderson believes can help those in need.