McHenry County Mental Health Board to hold town hall on May 5

McHenry County Mental Health Board will host a community town hall at 5 p.m. May 5 at its offices at 620 Dakota St. in Crystal Lake to raise awareness during Mental Health Month.

Attendees will have opportunities to discuss mental health, substance use disorder and intellectual and developmental disability-related services and needs for the community, according to a news release.

For more than 70 years, Mental Health America has led the observance of Mental Health Month by reaching millions of people through the media, local events and screenings, an effort the McHenry County Mental Health Board is hoping to encourage locally, according to the release.

“Greater awareness results in greater understanding of mental health, substance use disorders, and intellectual developmental disabilities,” the McHenry County Mental Health Board said in the release, noting that one in five people in the U.S. have a mental illness.

In McHenry County, about 61,600 people have a mental illness, with 20,500, on average, who do not seek help and 30,800 who are untreated, according to the release.