Parks are places where people go to find recreation and relaxation. Sometimes they’re looking for solace. That sense of calm found in a park also draws people in crisis.
Butler County's MetroParks host an average of 1.3 million visitors every year. Some of those visitors may be struggling with mental health, or addiction. Between 2020 and last year, 17 people died of an overdose, and another 18 died by suicide within the park system.
MetroParks is addressing their needs by posting ways to get help.
Cara Brown with the Butler County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Board says Clermont County posted signs in two parks last year, directing people to helplines.
“They had been seeing some suicides in the parks and overdoses and how those signs had really impacted their residents,” she says.
One of the numbers posted is a local crisis line, which can send someone to the scene. The National Suicide Prevention number — 988 — is listed too. There’s additional resources for veterans listed. The Butler County Crisis Line and local 988 center received nearly 5,300 calls last year.
The executive director of the MHARS board says he saw a similar effort while on vacation once. Scott Rasmus says he was on a very high bridge in Vermont.
“They had put signs up on that bridge. I was very moved by the quotes, the topics, the compassion that folks had reached out with these signs, with these moving statements, like ‘Your life is precious. Reach out to us.’ ”
MetroParks spokeswoman Katie Ely-Wood says signs will be up by the end of the month in all 23 parks, listing mental health and addiction recovery hotlines.
“If they’re getting that information from the sign while they’re out visiting and take it home with them, and can share it or use it themselves while they’re home, I think that’s super critical.”
The MHARS Board also is working with communities within Butler County to put up signs in community parks.
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