Whitley Health Dept. launching two new online resources later this year

During the Whitley County Board of Health’s regular quarterly meeting Monday evening, Public Health Director Marcy Rein offered board members a preview of two brand new online resources that she hopes will greatly benefit the citizens of Whitley County.

The first, an online community health assessment and improvement plan, will take information collected from national, statewide and local sources, and organize it into an easily navigable website that will be open to the public. Based on the results of a recent community survey, Rein said that three main areas of concern will be mental health, substance abuse and obesity, although a long list of other concerns will also be addressed.

“We want this to be really useful for folks,” Rein said. “We want it to be a living thing that we can update and change as we go forward. The hope is that it will be useful to our community.”

Specifically when it comes to providing the community with assistance pertaining to mental health issues, Rein also previewed another online tool called Behavioral Health 360.

“This is a digital mental health platform that will be free to anybody, and will target Whitley County specifically,” Rein explained. “It will include access to evidence-based resources that have been vetted by mental health professionals.”

Rein said that the target date for launching the Behavioral Health 360 site is Oct. 31, and she hopes to launch the online community health improvement plan around the same time. Additional details will be made available via the Whitley County Health Department’s mobile app, official website and social media pages.