Newburyport’s Mental Health Task Force

by TLos | Jan 22, 2025 | Our Work in Action

Newburyport’s Mental Health Task Force is tasked with increasing support to community members of all ages around mental health. Comprised of members of city hall staff and the community, partners come together monthly who are all working hard to serve the mental health needs of the community. Partners include the Mayor’s Office, Recreation and Youth Services, Link House, Pettengill House, Beth Israel Lahey Health, Anna Jaques Hospital, local social workers and counselors, the Newburyport Police, the Council on Aging, youth and community volunteers.

In it’s first year the task force conducted a mental health community needs assessment. This included looking at previously collected data through Essex County Outreach and Anna Jaques Hospital, as well as conducting focus groups with populations whose voice may have been historically excluded or who were less likely to participate in an online survey. These focus groups included school counseling staff, parents of youth struggling with mental health, the Portuguese speaking population, adults who identify as LGBTQ+, the low-income population and adults who were struggling with mental health and substance use disorders. Challenges that arose included finding appropriate care, lack of knowledge of how to navigate the system, lack of providers who share characteristics with those seeking care (ie. Portuguese speaking), barriers like transportation, un or underinsurance, and the stigma that prevents folks from seeking care.

This assessment identified three areas of need.

Education around mental health to inform and also reduce stigma
Access to services and supports in navigating the existing systems
Systems change in creating more spaces and access points for care

The task force has been meeting in each action area to identify next steps and a proposal is being written to present to the Mayor.

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About Us The Essex County Asset Builder (ECAB) Network creates regional connections and supports for individuals, families and organizations from Amesbury, Georgetown, Newbury, Rowley, Salisbury and Newburyport, in using a positive youth development approach to help youth thrive. Positive Youth Development

The Positive Youth Development approach engages youth with peers, family and community in a way that enhances their strengths and promotes positive outcomes. It can also be used as an approach to prevention that encourages healthy decisions.
A positive youth development approach to prevention is an effective, evidence based way to look at the opioid epidemic and how we can prevent future harm to our youth. Specifically, it uses a whole community approach rather than just relying on schools and social services agencies.

Being a part of the ECAB Network brings local and regional opportunities. Locally, communities have access to trainings, data, and best practices, and receive guidance on implementation and outreach strategies that build positive youth development possibilities. Communities also get the benefit of regionalizing efforts, where networking, combining resources, current policies, and a shared vision strengthen the towns and cities as well as the region. History Recently, the communities of Amesbury, Georgetown, Newbury, Rowley, Salisbury and Newburyport came together to form the Essex County Asset Builder Network. Funded by a three year grant, the goal of this Network is to create a common language of asset- based youth development (creating protective factors). It has been shown that youth who have more assets are less likely to engage in risky behaviors. This grant will use the 40 Developmental Assets framework to build these protective factors and reduce risk behaviors by focusing on both the youth and the environment that shapes them. The community partnership will enhance the great work already being done to support youth and families, as well as expand community supports, opportunities, and resources. Additionally, the grant will collect and disseminate regional data, coordinate shared resources and bring educational opportunities for various sectors of the community. Goal To spread the philosophy and practice of the positive youth development approach through implementation of 40 Developmental Asset framework within communities across the region. We will accomplish this goal by:

Collecting and disseminating regional and community specific data that can then be shared and used among all agencies.
Increasing the number of community members who feel comfortable using the language of positive youth development and the 40 Developmental Assets approach
Increasing the number of community members who implement a positive youth development approach in their work
Increasing the number of developmental assets youth report

Mission To use a positive youth development approach to build networks within each community and across the region that help decrease risk behaviors in youth and produce a healthier community. Vision A network of communities that welcome, value and empower youth through meaningful opportunities and collaborative efforts to support and strengthen youth assets and increase healthy decision making.