Consortium for mental health beginning

By Phil Monson
Jeff Herzberg says mental health is in a state of crises and now is the time to start doing something about it.
Herzberg, who leads the Prairie Lakes AEA and also serves as superintendent of the Gilmore City-Bradgate School District, has teamed up with others statewide to create an affiliation with NAMI, the National Alliance of Mental Illness.
“There are about six statewide groups around the state but there is a void in our area. I’ve teamed up with six others to get something established in our region,” Herzberg said.
“To kick this off we are going to hold a community meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 6. Former Iowa State University basketball standout Royce White will be our guest speaker,” Herzberg said.
“Royce will sign autographs at 5:30 p.m. and give his presentation at 6 p.m. It will take place in the Fort Dodge Senior High Little Theater,” Herzberg said.
“He will speak for 45 minutes to an hour. Then someone from NAMI in Des Moines will talk about the organization itself. A couple of us from our local group will then speak and talk about our training sessions to be offered,” Herzberg said.
“There was an eight-county area up here in northern Iowa that wasn’t being served. Prairie Lakes AEA is part of that area. We hope to eventually get to all eight of them so they can have support groups, training classes for peers and families in all eight counties,” Herzberg said.
“We are talking about Webster, Humboldt, Wright, Kossuth, Pocahontas, Calhoun, Buena Vista, Sac and Carroll County. A pastor from Carroll showed up at our meeting last week and he said they are not currently supported by an NAMI affiliate,” Herzberg said. “So we are going to try to support Carroll County, too.”
“I just sent 150 letters statewide to the governor and every legislative member – a very short and to the point letter – that Iowa children’s mental health is in a crises level,” Herzberg said.
“Evidence of the crises is the Iowa Youth Survey, given to students across the state in grades 6, 8 and 11, in all three of those grades 21 percent of those kids answered ‘yes’ in response to the question, ‘in the last 12 months have you thought about killing yourself?’ I said in my letter it is time to stop talking about it and start doing something about it,” Herzberg said.
“It’s time to start allocating resources real quickly and I’m getting a little feedback so far,” Herzberg said. “The people who have given quick feedback are supportive of me.”
The public is welcome and encouraged to attend the meeting on Aug. 6.