Mental health is an increasingly frequent topic of discussion in the news and around the community. And most of the news is quite grim. In our community, we have resources dedicated to addressing mental health issues. Columbus Regional Health is also starting up a new initiative to hopefully address these issues in a more comprehensive way. But what can we do today? With September being Suicide Prevention Month, this question is more timely than ever.
Before discussing that, it’s worth looking at the state of mental health in our community. A recent study conducted by Columbus Regional Health brought to light some sobering results. While many speak of a national mental health crisis, the state in our community is worse than what we see nationally. Nationally, 13% of adults and 6% of children describe their mental health as “fair” or “poor.” In our community, a much higher 24% of adults and 23% of children report “fair” or “poor” mental health with a staggering 19% of students seriously contemplating suicide. These are our kids who are considering taking their own lives.
While it’s difficult to think of a more concerning outcome than a child considering taking their own life, this also has an economic impact. Employees with poor mental health miss four times as many work days as their mentally healthy co-workers, leading to an eye-popping $47 billion in lost productivity across the country.
And despite these issues, we are under-resourced as a community to address this. While nothing would be better than the proverbial “ounce of prevention,” we do need to react when people have issues in the form of qualified and accessible mental health therapists. Unfortunately, this is another area where we fall short. The country as a whole averages 114 mental health providers for every 100,00 citizens. Our community comes in much lower at 89 mental health providers per 100,000 residents. And this despite having a sicker overall population.
Encouragingly, we are working to do more about this. A collaboration of community organizations is launching an initiative called Mental Health Matters. This initiative seeks to address challenges and improve the mental health system for the wellbeing of youth and adults in Bartholomew County. This is likely a three-year initiative that includes discovery and learning, strategizing solutions, implementing these strategies, and then moving to sustainability. There are lots of ways any one of us can contribute to this initiative. If you are interested or even just curious, I suggest checking their web site, mhmbc.org.
As important and encouraging as this initiative is, it does raise the question, what can we do now? In full disclosure, the authors of this letter serve on the board of local community health organization Family Service. Family Service provides a range of prevention services and programming as well as individual therapy services. Among other things, we provide some of the therapists that our community very much needs. And we do so for people who can’t typically afford such services. A significant majority of our clients pay less than what it costs us to provide the services. On average, we lose roughly $45 per session. And we are just about the only option that a lot of people have to get much-needed mental health services.
We are doing everything we can to offer these services sustainably and hopefully add therapists, thereby expanding our capacity to provide treatment. But we can’t do so without financial support from the community. If you would like to help, please consider making a donation to Family Service. Your support is an investment in the community that pays dividends in so many ways, from healthier neighbors to fewer lost days of work to literally lives saved.
Jahon Hobbeheydar is a member of the board of directors of nonprofit Family Service Inc. in Columbus. He wrote this commentary on behalf of himself and fellow board members Michael Heyden (chair), Michelle Findley, Brad Hamilton, Jason Hatton, Erin Hawkins, Beth Morris, Jamieson Ogle, Elizabeth Patton, Komal Pitney, Austin Smith, Dwayne Smith and Tina Snider. Send comments to [email protected].
