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K-State Today

February 28, 2014

Mental health public forum March 3

Submitted by Haley Acker

The Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy is hosting a public forum about mental health from 7-9 p.m. March 3 at the K-State Alumni Center. The forum is open to the public.

President Barack Obama called for a national conversation to increase understanding about mental health because of the overwhelming amount of suicides by those suffering with a mental illness, especially veterans.

The forum will allow community members will take part in round-table discussions with a trained guide and consider how communities should care for people suffering from mental illnesses. Three options will be discussed at the forum: individuals come first, which encourages an individual with a mental illness to choose his or her treatment; public responsibility, which puts decisions of care in the hands of family and friends; and treatment over criminalization, which stresses that incarceration isn’t a way to treat mental health patients.