Board Formed To Promote Mental Health Services For NW Missouri

Four counties have created a board of representatives intending to help resident receive mental health services.

County commissioners and clerks from Gentry, Worth, Nodaway, and Holt County held a ceremonial signing of an agreement forming the Northwest Missouri Cooperative Mental Health Board of Trustees on the Northwest Missouri State University campus.

The mission of the board will be promoting mental health services for Northwest Missouri residents, advocate for mental health initiatives, distribute funding to mental health providers and organizations, promote regional planning, coordinate member governments, and pursue funding to expand mental health services.

County commissions in each of the represented counties will appoint respective volunteer members to the Board for staggered three-year terms. The number of Board members from each county is based on the county’s proportion of the general population within northwest Missouri. While the Board will include 11 members, six will come from Nodaway County, the most populated of the four counties; Gentry and Holt counties will have at two members each, and Worth County will have at least one Board member. The Board will include at least one Missouri-licensed physician, and at least one-third of the Board members must represent consumers of psychiatric services.

The creation of the board developed from the findings of the leadership team created in 2020 to investigate how mental health issues affect local court systems and the resources available to address those issues. The findings led to the push to create the multi-county board with the purpose of addressing comprehensive mental health services in communities.