Mental Health/Disability Services of the East Central Region (ECR) wants to help residents in the nine-county region locate available services for mental health, substance abuse, housing, transportation and other community support services. MentalHealthU (MHU) is a free smartphone app available on Google Play, the Apple Store and at http://mhuapp.org/.
“It is not enough that the services are available if people who need them don’t know they exist,” Mechelle Dhondt, CEO of the ECR, stated in a press release.
Until 2014 after mental health regionalization, only the urban counties had mobile crisis outreach services. Now the nine-county ECR funds the Iowa Helpline, a toll-free number and website to reach trained mental health counselors for talk, text or chat. The counselors can provide referral and support, or dispatch the Mobile Crisis Outreach Team to anywhere in Benton, Bremer, Buchanan, Delaware, Dubuque, Iowa, Johnson, Jones and Linn counties. The region funds crisis stabilization beds, a lower level of care than inpatient psychiatric beds, freeing up those hospital beds for people who need them.
The MHU smartphone app lists local agencies that provide community services to the ECR and more. The app includes information on recognizing signs and symptoms of mental illness, what to say to some one who may be experiencing a mental illness, and resources to guide in locating services and supports.
ECR residents who do not own a smartphone can call the Iowa Helpline at (855) 800-1239, or visitwww.IowaHelpline.org. More ECR resources can be found at www.ecriowa.us.
