Pandemic brings increase in mental health calls

Initial weeks of stay-athome orders correlates to more seeking help

Some metro area law enforcement agencies saw an increased number of suicide and mental health calls in the early weeks of Oklahoma's

COVID-19 pandemic.

Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes said after initial emergency declarations and stay-at-home orders were issued, his department saw a spike.

“We are seeing a very alarming increased rate of suicide calls in Midwest City,” Clabes told members of t he Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Advisory

Council during a meeting April 16.“We are seeing many more mental health calls than we've ever seen.

It's a dynamic time.”

The Norman Police Department also experienced an early spike. The Choctaw Police Department has dealt with large volumes of mental health calls, a spokesperson said.

At the same April 16 meeting, Oklahoma City Police Chief Wade Gourley said his

department had also seen an increase in suicides.

But the department said Tuesday that the total rate of suicide sand mental health calls through March and April have actually been below average.

Call numbers leveling off also happened in Norman and Midwest City, which Clabes said he believes can be attributed to people adjusting to the realities of the pandemic and learning how to use telemedicine to stay connected to doctors.

“What has helped us is people are adopting how to utilize Zoom and virtual meetings to talk to doctors where at the initial onset, that was not all set up yet,” Clabes said.

For t hose who don't have access to the internet or still don't know how to use those platforms, though, Clabes said “it can be difficult.”

In Edmond, a police department spokesperson said the department had not experienced an increase.

Choctaw Police Department spokesperson Kelly Marshall said officers have been receiving increased mental health training and are using that knowledge to connect residents to resources.

“I think we are putting ourselves out to the citizens more and saying `We do know about these resources, and let' s see what we can do to help,'” Marshall said.

And while a few agencies said they could not definitively confirm that the increase was directly related to the pandemic, mental health providers have said for weeks that higher-than-average numbers of Oklahomans are accessing care resources due to the virus.

“We anticipate some significant levels of trauma and loss and upheaval in general that has occurred due to COVID-19,” said Rebecca Hubbard, a mental health professional working as the director of outreach, prevention and education for Mental Health Association of Oklahoma.

Margi Preston is the director of Heart line, which runs the state' s 2-1-1 resource line connecting individuals to health and human services. The group has also been managing the state's COVID-19 hotline.

Preston said that in March and April of 2019, operators for the line made 1,635 mental health referrals for callers.

So far in March and April of 2020, operators have made 6,681 mental health referrals.

“There has been a huge difference,” Preston said. “That is definitely an issue.”

The group also runs several other suicide prevention and resource lines, and Preston said there has been an uptick in the number of online chats people have requested.

The state Mental Health Department is preparing to deal with a prolonged increase in individuals coping with serious issues stemming from the virus and connected economic woes.

“We do expect t hose numbers to continue ticking up,” Preston said.