Addressing the Mental Health Crisis
Mental health care in our country is still greatly lagging. This is something that Jamie Belsito knows first-hand. Jamie faced very real and severe mental health challenges from postpartum depression after the birth of her children. When she asked for help, she was told that someone could see her in three months.
That is something no mother, or any person who needs mental health assistance, should ever be told. Physical health and mental health are not separate issues, but our current health care systems cannot handle, or do not prioritize, the mental health complications that patients face.
It is estimated that our jails are close to half-filled with people suffering from some degree of mental illness.
Implementing the Affordable Care Act and its Requirement for Mental Health Parity
Mental health access should be as readily available as getting a same day appointment at a primary care physician’s office. Right now, the NIH estimates that 50 percent of Americans suffering from mental health challenges are have difficulty accessing treatment.
In order to rise up and meet this challenge we need to:
- Implement Mental Health and Wellness Activities: into our school systems, our physical wellness check-ups, and our day-to-day workplaces
- Develop Dedicated Mental Health Supports: into public K-12 and higher education systems
- Fund Research on Comorbidities: of substance use, ACE’s (adverse childhood experiences), sexual abuse, and their effects on overall mental health and wellness
- Create Access to Mental Health Tools and Programs: deploy approved, national and state level online and peer support mental health tools, such as “Well Connect,” that can guide health care professionals’ decision making
Update the Way this Country Covers and Pays for Mental Health Services
The financial burden for care is falling on families, and/or their private insurance and these benefits are limited, even in the most expensive insurance packages.
Like many diseases, mental health diagnoses are linked to numerous external and hereditary factors. And, untreated mental health is directly correlated to physical illness such as hypertension, cardiac issues, obesity and increased mortality. Finding better means of financing mental health care will lead to better outcomes overall.
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