Filling the Mental Health Services Gap

Important and necessary changes are occurring in the way we deliver mental health services to the community. The typical way folks access mental health care is through one on one sessions with a therapist. This works well for those with fairly stable conditions to work on longer term changes and management of their mental wellbeing. But often people experience a mental health care emergency and need a different type of care. Communities are also trying new ways to de-escalate and relieve pressure on police and hospitals and to reduce the criminalization of having a mental health diagnosis and being in crisis. Police departments are hiring social workers and other specially trained personnel to go out on mental health calls with or without policemen depending on the nature of the call. This has reduced the pressure on hospitals and on law enforcement who are not trained to deal with mental health crises.

In Alabama, there are two new welcome additions to the mental health system. They attempt to address mental health crises by avoiding the hospital. One is the Craig Crisis Care Center supported by a grant through the Alabama Department of Mental Health in Birmingham. It is called crisis stabilization and its purpose is to avoid the hospital if the individual can be treated and stabilized in a short period of time. It is open 24/7 and has 48 beds. 36 beds are for short term stays up to three days, and the other 12 are for five days. There will be a psychiatrist and nurse practitioner on staff as well as clinical social workers and case managers. Their role is to get the person stabilized with medication and counseling and refer to appropriate mental health providers in the community for follow up. There are other crisis care centers in Alabama currently, and they are working together to make a mental health crisis the same as a physical emergency. You need care and quickly, but don’t need to be hospitalized.

In Alabama, there is another innovative program called IOP Services LLC. IOP stands for Intensive Outpatient Programs and fills the gap when hospitalization is not indicated, but individual therapy is not enough. It is a 14-16 week outpatient program providing group therapy three days a week for three hours each time. These intensive outpatient programs are growing all over the country and bring to the table evidence based group therapy to help individuals learn coping skills for their diagnoses as well as identifying their symptoms so they can get help before it becomes an emergency.

Please keep these new developments in mind as you treat your clients or need them for your personal use.

If you want further information or have questions, please reach out to Amy Allon, LICSW and Practice Works member.