In Forest Park, residents want a more comprehensive, accessible way to access mental health resources. 

That was one of the main findings of the wellness survey and community assessment that the village’s Board of Health carried out early last year. The group presented the results at the first council meeting of February.  

Of 158 Forest Park households — which the board acknowledged was a small sample size compared to the village’s over 7,000 homes — 69% experienced anxiety in the past year, and 56% have experienced depression.  

“One of the important things we wanted to know is, would the residents know who to call if they had a mental health crisis, and we had a 56% positive reply to that, which is pretty high,” said Susan Buss, one of the board members. She added that the number is similar to the results of a similar question asked in an Oak Park survey. 

After seeing the survey’s results, the board created a free monthly speaker series at the Forest Park Public Library, where different locals talk about topics around mental or physical health — like neurodivergent parenting or self-care activities.  

In order to further address barriers and access to health in Forest Park, the Board of Health listed five recommendations to the village council at the Feb. 9 meeting. They also acknowledged the village’s current financial situation, as auditors presented to the council before the Board of Health did. 

“I want to state up front that some of these recommendations do require financial investment and others do not,” said Lindsey Baish-Flynn, a board member. “But regardless of their current feasibility, these recommendations are rooted in data and the collective expertise of the Board of Health, and hopefully they are going to provide a benchmark to work towards within this community.”  

Here are the recommendations: 

  • Invest in a regularly updated directory of mental health resources for community members and civic employees. The board said, in the short-term, Forest Park could repurpose existing directories of resources from surrounding communities. In the long-term, locals could work to build resource hubs into village or library websites. 
  • Invest in personnel to facilitate mental health resources, preferably a licensed social worker. The board suggested that such personnel could be based out of the community center and could also serve village staff.  “This is a really timely recommendation given the retirement of our community treasure, Karen Dylewski. She was not an official social worker, but our research showed that she very much acted unofficially in this capacity for residents, so this would be a huge hole to fill,” Baish-Flynn said.  
  • Strengthen partnerships with neighboring communities to improve access to mental health resources. 
  • Regularly solicit feedback from residents on the state of their mental health every two years. 
  • Provide more training and support for frontline civic employees for their own mental health. 

This survey marked one of the Board of Health’s first initiatives since it was restructured in 2023. The board launched in 2002 but was inactive for over a decade. 

Two years ago, the board started engaging representatives from village departments to see how they thought mental health services could improve in the village. There were requests for a central location for residents to access services and a database or handout with listed resources, but also more resources and training within the departments themselves. 

“There was a strong sense of overwhelm,” Buss said. She cited statistics about the Forest Park Fire Department that were referenced earlier at the meeting. “When we hear the numbers about the fire department number of calls, it makes a lot of sense, the overwhelm and burnout.” 

Following the Board of Health’s presentation, Commissioner Michelle Melin-Rogovin said: “I appreciated the depth of the analysis and the work that you did to engage the community and our partners in the village about this. I’m still digesting the report because it was a lot of information, but I definitely am interested in conversations and welcome the opportunity to talk further.” 

“I think we all have some ideas of what we might find in seeing some of the responses and doing some digging,” Commissioner Jessica Voogd said. “But to have this rooted in data, to have some of those questions clearly answered, it’s really helping us see how to move forward and in what areas to focus our limited resources on.”  

“I’m very interested in hearing from the board and how we can help keep this momentum going. I don’t want this to just be something that’s shelved,” Voogd added, “especially some of the things that we can do that are very affordable that we can get started on now.”