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Forsyth County commissioners are scrambling to form a functional advisory committee to study mental health needs within the community. The issue is expected to be discussed at the board’s May 16 meeting.
Mental health panel fails to launch County may revamp committee makeup By EVERETT CATTS newsroom@appenmedia.com FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — Just weeks after the Forsyth County Mental Health Advisory Committee was formed, concerns have been raised about its purpose since it hasn’t met in 41 days, according to county officials. The issue was added as a special agenda item of discussion during the May 7 Forsyth County Board of Com-
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missioners work session. The board approved the committee’s formation at its March 21 meeting, and it was to be composed of county commissioners Kerry Hill and Todd Levent, two Board of Education members, and representatives from the offices of County Manager David McKee, County School District Superintendent Jeff Bearden and Sheriff Ron Freeman. The committee was formed to identify existing treatment, education and prevention resources that address mental health illness in the county; determine the existing and future
need for mental health services; and identify what is needed to fill gaps in existing resources. But the School Board has not chosen which members will sit on the committee, and it doesn’t look like it will. Commissioner Cindy Jones Mills requested the committee issue be added to the agenda after getting an email from a person involved with it. “Nothing had been done, and that a report was due back in July,” she said the person wrote in the email.
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