Dover Mental Health Alliance Holds Convening Meeting Of Mental Health Task Force
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DOVER — On Thursday, July 29, key community stakeholders from the city of Dover, fire, police, business community and local service providers as well as mental health organizations joined forces in the convening meeting of the Dover Mental Health Alliance’s Mental Health Task Force.
The task force will look to decrease barriers to communication between organizations while increasing the network of care for the citizens of Dover. The task force will also work together to create policy change on the local, county and state level to allow for better mental health support and services.
The Dover Mental Health Alliance (DMHA), a grass roots community coalition, envisions a culture that understands, embraces, and addresses the complexities of mental health. The convening of the Mental Health Task Force is one part of the DMHA’s efforts to build a resilient community that is educated, responsive, and conscious of the impact of mental illness.
The Dover Mental Health Alliance has been facilitating Adult and Youth Mental Health First Aid training as well as training in Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) for community members and organizations in Dover and surrounding towns. This fall, the DMHA, in partnership with the National Association for Mental Illness (NAMI NH) and the Dover Public School system, will launch two additional training initiatives: NAMI Connect Suicide Prevention/Postvention Training and the NAMI Youth Empowerment Program which will help peers talk to peers about mental health. In addition, trainers from Dover High School and Community Partners will also implement Teen Mental Health First Aid (tMHFA) for all Dover High School sophomores. For more information about Mental Health First Aid, go to https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/.
The DMHA is part of Strafford County’s local, non-profit community mental health center, Community Partners. For more information about Community Partners, go to www.communitypartnersnh.org. For more information about the Dover Mental Health Alliance, visit www.facebook.com/DoverMHA/, or email Suzanne Weete at suzanneweete@communitypartnersnh.org.