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Mayor Kevin Foy has tapped Natalie Ammarell, a human services consultant, to chair the town’s new Mental Health Task Force.

The state's failed mental health system has forced mentally ill residents to fend for themselves for treatment and medication, town officials said in a release. UNC Hospitals uniquely affects Chapel Hill and Orange County because the hospital discharges some mentally ill patients who stay in Chapel Hill in perpetuity.

"The future of mental health care in Chapel Hill and throughout North Carolina is uncertain,” Foy says. “Therefore, local municipalities must think more about how this will affect the health and vitality of our communities.”

“Mental health issues are sometimes invisible,” said Ammarell, who studied the impact of deinstitutionalization of the mental health system in Massachusetts. "This task force will offer a great opportunity to come together to make sure we are addressing the needs of Chapel Hill residents.”

The task force will be asked to 1) assess the state of the mental health care system in the greater Chapel Hill community; 2) create broader awareness of mental health care issues in Chapel Hill and generate discussion; and 3) provide recommendations regarding the future of mental health care services for residents of the town and county.