BREMERTON — The Kitsap County Council for Human Rights presents a community forum on Saturday, June 9 from 10 a.m. to noon at Olympic College Engineering Building Rotunda, 1600 Chester Avenue, Bremerton. The forum will address mental health and current trends to challenges with the sociobiological science of mental illness and its effects on individuals and families, as well as an overview of data and statistical trends of mental illness outcomes in Kitsap County.

There will also be a look at the community work being done by local mental health advocates and first responders.

A panel discussion will include Charles Doyal, supervisor of the Kitsap Mental Health Services Crisis Response Team; Larry Brixius and Jeanette Rerecich Brixius of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Kitsap County; Casey Reed, transition manager for the Center of Excellence for Veteran Student Success at Olympic College; and Siri Kushner, assessment and epidemiology program manager with the Kitsap Public Health District.

Panelists will share perspectives from their fields related to mental health and illness, and discuss how disparities in people’s experiences and access to medical healthcare may factor in. The public will have the opportunity to talk with each other and panelists about what they learn, how it may relate to their own experiences, how to increase equity in mental healthcare and what local community resources are available.

The community forum is free to the public and everyone is welcome to attend. The event is sponsored with the generous support of the Washington Academy of Family Physicians and the Multicultural and Student Programs Department of Olympic College.For more information, contact Rebecca Pirtle in the Kitsap County Commissioners’ Office at (360) 337-4650, rpirtle@co.kitsap.wa.us or visit the Council for Human Rights website here.