Greene County recently became the newest member of the Central Iowa Community Services mental health region.

Greene County is one of the 11 counties in the region that also consists of Madison, Warren, Jasper, Poweshiek, Marshall, Story, Boone, Franklin, Hamilton, and Hardin counties. CICS Coordination Officer Betsy Stursma says each county has its own local services coordinator, along with a local director as the liaison between the counties and the administrative team for the region.

“We really feel like having those local directors assigned to the counties still gives that county that connection to that administrative team. Because although we are looking at stuff on a broad scope as a region, we also want to take the individual county’s needs into consideration and that we’re making sure that we’re meeting local county needs as well as bigger scope regional needs.”

Greene County started with CICS on July 1st, after the Board of Supervisors decided to terminate their agreement with the Heart of Iowa Community Services (HICS) region. Greene County has since added some new services such as a mobile crisis unit and public training opportunities, but for Disabilities Services Coordinator Ellen Ritter, she says her job stays the same.

“My main job is to get people lined up with services and then look for another funder, whether it be Medicaid or a private insurance provider. But get them the services that they need to remain in the community and to manage their mental health.”

To hear more from Stursma and Ritter, listen to today’s and this Wednesday’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County programs.