Officials: More help needed for suicidal kids

Bay State schools combating a surge in suicidal behavior among students are running into a shortage of treatment beds and specialists who can work with troubled kids, according to state mental health officials trying to address the issue.

“It is important to note that a big challenge is the lack of specialty-services beds, plus a shortage of really skilled, resilient clinicians to work in the many settings in which children receive services, including office, home and school settings,” said Sharon Torgerson, spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. “MassHealth is currently examining this issue in collaboration with the Department of Mental Health.

The review comes as a state panel is crafting a blueprint for schools to follow to increase mental health services for students, the Herald reported earlier this month. The panel is expected to release its recommendations — which will likely call for increased collaboration between schools and healthcare providers — in weeks.

Demand for behavioral health services tends to spike during the school year, Torgerson said, straining mental health services as they try to respond to fluctuating needs.

Across the country, 3 million young people, aged 12 to 17, suffered from a major depressive episode in 2015, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health.

Between July 2015 to June 2016, over 34,000 MassHealth patients under the age of 21 sought services for mental health issues.

“There is definitely not enough resources out there to help bridge the gap,” said Dr. Negar Beheshti, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry clinical services at UMass Memorial in Worcester. “In Worcester, we don’t have inpatient beds for kids. The further you go west the less resources there are for a more intense level of care.”