The Mental Health Task Force announced the town’s approval of the Best Practices Program, a grant that will support mental health activities to benefit the Marblehead community.
“One of my goals for being on the Board of Health is to bring the public back into discussion and bring public health back into the forefront,” said task force and Board of Health member Tom Massaro. “And public mental health is a very important part of that.”
The Best Practices Program will allow for additional resources. The town received two proposals, one for public health and one for mental health. With the increased funding of $90,000, the grant could allow the task force to hire a public health ambassador if desired.
“We want someone to reach out into the community and do what can be done to make Marblehead healthier,” Massaro said. “That is a working definition of today’s public health—what can we do as a society to make the community healthier.”
The Marblehead town administrator was instructed to spend the funds within two years, and Massaro used this opportunity to meet with the task force to refine their approach to mental health.
“Marblehead is such a creative town with so many smart people, and I get the sense that the community is just ready to coalesce,” Massaro said. “Anytime there’s a decent idea, with a group of people that are worth talking to, we should be able to make this happen.”
Massaro and the rest of the task force will continue to brainstorm ways to strengthen mental health practices in Marblehead.