shortage of mental health providers just sent a sense of hopelessness up my spine

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 30, 2023

Most of us understand how it feels to be so frustrated all we want to do is SCREAM! That's the way I've been feeling for decades. Reading the news on the shortage of mental health providers just sent a sense of hopelessness up my spine. I screamed!

Scream

As the mental health crisis in children and teens worsens, the dire shortage of mental health providers is preventing young people from getting the help they need
Steven Berkowitz, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Sun, August 27, 2023

The situation is so grim that in October 2021, health care professionals declared a national emergency in child mental health. Since then, the crisis has not abated; it’s only gotten worse. But there are not enough mental health professionals to meet the need.

The hospital where I practice recently admitted a 14-year-old girl with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, to our outpatient program. She was referred to us six months earlier, in October 2022, but at the time we were at capacity. Although we tried to refer her to several other hospitals, they too were full. During that six-month wait, she attempted suicide.

Unfortunately, this is an all-too-common story for young people with mental health issues. A 2021 survey of 88 children’s hospitals reported that they admit, on average, four teens per day to inpatient programs. At many of these hospitals, more children await help, but there are simply not enough services or psychiatric beds for them.

So these children languish, sometimes for days or even a week, in hospital emergency departments. This is not a good place for a young person coping with grave mental health issues and perhaps considering suicide. Waiting at home is not a good option either – the family is often unable or unwilling to deal with a child who is distraught or violent.

I am a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Colorado, where I founded and direct the Stress, Trauma, Adversity Research and Treatment Center. For 30 years, my practice has focused on youth stress and trauma.
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First getting people to understand what #PTSD was seemed an impossible endeavor. Then the battle was to get the message across that no one had to suffer when they could heal as a survivor of what trauma did to them. That offered them hope they weren't stuck the way they were. The problem back then was there were not enough mental health professionals with specialized training in trauma. 

How could we expect anyone to seek help when it clearly wouldn't be there for them? Years passed and as word spread about the millions suffering, that field grew. The problem was, that they were focused on veterans while unwilling to understand that PTSD was a human wound caused by many different traumatic events. 

To see all of this end up right back to where I started 4 decades ago is heartbreaking, but all is not hopeless. To know that just being able to talk to someone begins the healing process and all of us can at least listen to them is something all of us can do until things change again. 

If you know you need help and believe you may have #PTSD, no matter what the cause was, go here and take the assessment from the National Center For PTSD to get an idea of what you may be experiencing. The best way to know for sure is to be evaluated by a mental health professional but until there are more of them, you can take steps now to begin to heal.

Learn what it is, and why you were hit by it, and try to explain it to the people in your life. Right now, just like you are assuming things about yourself they are making assumptions too. They don't know any better than you do. Put yourself in their place and understand you'd probably do the same thing if you didn't know what it was.

You do not have to go into details with them but if you trust them, then find what helps you understand it better and share it with them. Just begin the conversation by telling them you need help and for them to listen. 

If you don't have anyone you trust, then search online for groups that focus on the cause of your PTSD because they will understand what you survived better than other groups. If you cannot find one, then search for groups focusing on PTSD in general. Any support is better than no support at all because at least you'll understand you are not alone in what you are dealing with. Sit back, read, or listen to what they have to say, and then if you feel comfortable, try to open up. If not, then move on to another group until you find one you feel comfortable with.

Do not give up trying to find a mental health professional. If you have to wait months for an appointment, take it. There is only so much you can do without their help but at least you can begin to heal until you find one. Also, keep in mind there are online providers to help you too.