POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS
Many of the New Mexico people interviewed for this story offered ideas, large and small, for how to improve the state’s behavioral health system. Here are a few of their ideas:
◆ Offer mobile therapy for homeless people with dogs: Angela Velez of Santa Fe said offering therapy sessions on park benches or at other outdoor sites would be a benefit for homeless people who own dogs and who are reluctant to leave them somewhere to attend an appointment.
◆ Create a network of transitional housing or respite homes for the mentally ill: Betty Sisneros Shover, president of NAMI Santa, said these could offer a short-term solution for people emerging from a mental health crisis and trying to figure out longer-term support. Such housing could operate similarly to support homes for people with developmental disabilities.
◆ Streamline intake processes for outpatient services: Kate Field, a therapist and the crisis services director for the Santa Fe Crisis Triage Center, said many agencies’ intake processes will include four meetings to get all the assessments done, which is a challenge for lots of people who need those services.
◆ Build more crisis triage centers in rural communities: Velez said she’s always telling other people on the streets about the services the Santa Fe Crisis Triage Center offers at Santa Fe County’s La Sala Center. But, she said, out in rural New Mexico, people struggling with behavioral health often don’t have those kinds of services. A more robust network of crisis triage centers could help.
◆ Increase the number of intensive outpatient services: Travis Bye of Santa Fe said in addition to community-based and inpatient services, he thinks more intensive outpatient services could help fill gaps for people trying to address substance addiction and other behavioral health problems.
◆ Address addiction medication availability: Field said a short supply of medication to treat opioid addiction can be a problem. There have been times when she’s heard every pharmacy in town is out of Suboxone, for example, which can be catastrophic for people who rely on the drug to help them avoid using fentanyl or other opioids.
◆ Buy the old Desert Hills facility to convert to an in-patient facility: State Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, said he thinks the state should buy the old Desert Hills youth residential facility in Albuquerque and convert it to an inpatient behavioral health facility. The property was on the market for years.