Sunday, May 17, 2015

Innovation in Care......

What it will take for mental illness to be treated adequately is innovation. Our current systems either ignore people needing help, or force them into a hospital once the situation has reached a crisis stage. And as we know, many times our prison system is the only place that people get help. Although I haven't been jailed, I'm a pretty good example of that. During the time I was struggling in Orlando, I was unable to obtain assistance. Wherever I looked, I saw only closed doors. The only time that I was able to get help was when I was suicidal and had nowhere else to turn. I was sent to a facility that had government contracts to serve the uninsured. It worked for me because I knew what I needed, and I set myself to finding a solution. Which ended up being a move. The hospital kept me as an inpatient until I was able to come up with a workable plan for moving to Nashville. That is something for which I will be forever grateful. At the end of my stay, I was back on medication and far more stable than I had been for quite some time. But I am also aware that I could have used a less drastic option in order to come to the same conclusion. As I've talked about in many blog articles, the optimum situation would have been to have options available BEFORE I hit an actual crisis, like being suicidal. So, whenever I read about something that is inventive, I get excited. Happily, I have something to share with you that IS innovative.

Here is the link to the article: http://huff.to/1Gho87D  As you will find when you read the article, what New York City has done has been to establish an option just a step down from an inpatient stay in a psychiatric hospital.  It's a publicly funded mental health center with a small number of beds to be used to house people BEFORE they hit a crisis.  The center is staffed with peer counselors. These are people likely to be able to relate to the people served by the program.  They serve those needing a 'time-out' to deal with the stresses they are facing. There isn't medication available, because it isn't a medically based program. But the beauty of this model is that the peer counselors might be able to help the client access the services that they need.  Hopefully, the peer counselors will have knowledge about service options and operate as a referral service.  However, the basic purpose of the center is respite.

As the article states, many of the mentally ill  might need a higher level of care. But since hospital beds for the mentally ill have decreased markedly, having a place for those needing a lower level of care just seems logical.  Because it isn't a hospital, it costs less. Of course, cost is a huge consideration when someone is seeking any kind of health service. In addition, it seems like a service meant to aid a person in a certain place on the continuum.  I'm not sure that I would have been eligible for this program, because I did need medication.  The combination of my physical issues (hypothyroid) and the depression meant that I couldn't get by with just a bit of counseling.  I needed to become physically stabilized. For different needs, there needs to be differing options.

So, for me this seems like a huge deal.  Being willing to think outside the box is the only way to deal with the mental health crisis.  When so many human beings in this country are suffering, it is obvious that we will have to innovate in order to deal with it.  What do you think?  Is this something that would benefit you?  Let's talk!!

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