Linn County Public Health and community partners emphasize the importance of prioritizing your mental health and staying connected with the release of a mental health toolkit. The toolkit is another in a series of several toolkits created to distribute in response to COVID-19.
The mental health toolkit contains general mental health resources including addressing stigma associated with COVID-19; and community mental health support for the general public, parents and caregivers of youth, graduating high school seniors and their parents and caregivers, older adults, working professionals, faith communities, and multi-lingual mental health resources for refugees.
Prior to the COVID-19 response in our community, mental health was identified as Linn County’s top priority in the 2018 Community Health Assessment where 1 in 5 adults reported being diagnosed with depression. Additionally, our community was in the beginning stages of launching the MakeItOk campaign to end stigma surrounding mental illness, and encourage conversations around mental health and mental illness. While these specific activities have been postponed due to social distancing guidelines and our continued public health response to COVID-19, our commitment and work towards mental wellness remains the same. Taking care of your mental health, the mental health of those around you, and knowing where to access mental health resources is now more important than ever during these unprecedented times of physical isolation, financial uncertainty, and feelings of stress and anxiety.
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Linn County Public Health, an agency within Linn County government, serves more than 225,000 residents of Linn County to prevent disease and injury, promote healthy living, protect the environment, and ensure public health preparedness. Learn more at linncounty.org/health or by calling 319-892-6000. Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LCPublicHealth and follow us on Twitter @LCPublicHealth.