NEW CITY-WIDE INITIATIVE SEEKS TO ELIMINATE STIGMA SURROUNDING MENTAL ILLNESS Writer / Jon Shoulders Photographer / Eli Beaverson
Five years ago, Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness and City Council Member Todd Zimmerman had an important discussion about the stigma surrounding mental health issues. They realized that a city-wide initiative, now known as the StigmaFreeFishers campaign, directed toward combating such stigmas, would be well worth the effort on a city-wide scale. One major component of that campaign is Fishers Cares, the city’s latest structured effort to combat mental and emotional problems, and the stigma that can surround them.
“We wanted to get faith-based groups, nonfaith groups, nonprofits and other businesses in our community together for Fishers Cares,” Zimmerman explains. “We’re trying to cross denominations and get people of all walks of life to come together and talk about the stigma of things like mental illness, anxiety and depression. We need to get people to somehow start talking about their experiences so they realize they’re not alone.” During a preliminary Fishers Cares brainstorming session Zimmerman held to discuss ideas on how to structure a program to directly help those in need, representatives from more than 40 local organizations and nonprofits showed up. Fishers Cares was officially launched atGeist.com / MARCH 2020 / GEIST MAGAZINE / 41
last October and provides anyone in the community with an opportunity to schedule an appointment on the official StigmaFreeFishers website and meet at one of several Fishers locations with a trained volunteer for 30 minutes to one hour. “You can sign up online, or do a walk-in at one of the places like the churches we have listed,” Zimmerman says. “You can just meet someone and get away from whatever your situation is - basically anything that’s not a 9-1-1 situation, or a situation where you need licensed therapy,” Zimmerman says. “It’s a first line of defense. You’ll have someone to be a listening ear and allow you to talk about what’s bothering you or stressing you out.”
