An opportunity to advocate for mental health
May is Mental Health Month. I find it important we address a vital issue confronting New Mexico.
As a licensed drug and alcohol abuse counselor for more than 20 years, I’d like to share my thoughts on behavioral health.
One in 5 Americans, and certainly no fewer New Mexicans, will lose time at work or school due to behavioral health issues including mental illness, substance abuse or alcohol use.
You probably don’t have to look further than your own family to know how many lives these issues impact.
Campaigning for lieutenant governor has been a statewide activity.
I hit the road with an informational card promoting education, investing in our small businesses and building healthy communities, including issues surrounding mental health, drug addiction and child welfare.
But mental health concerns leaped to the lead as the hot topic generating discussion on my travels.
As the coordinator and a therapist at the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center, I developed and implemented a mental health treatment program that lowered the inmate count from 130 to 50.
This platform worked because youth were able to receive and continue treatment outside the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center, because of their families’ access to Medicaid. This is a clear example that treatment and intervention can work. This model is nationally recognized and replicated nationwide.
The largest mental health provider in the state is the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque, with 50 percent of detainees having a behavioral health diagnosis.
Of these, 28 percent have a dual diagnosis — a mental illness compounded by an alcohol or substance use disorder. One should not have to start behavioral health services in a jail.
Resources in the state are scarce, but I see the changing administration this fall as a fresh start for creating new options.
This requires creative thinking, something New Mexicans have had to be good at to survive centuries in a state that in many ways is still a frontier.
Individuals around the state who are creative thinkers (and many times grant writers) are making differences in our communities.
For instance, the Rio Arriba County public health nurse who secured funding for Narcan to reverse overdoses has delivered us out of having the most lethal overdose county in the United States.
Recruiting psychiatrists and mental health workers is slow going at best when they are scarce at a nationwide level. We could focus on the University of New Mexico’s psychiatry program and incentivizing students to stay in New Mexico after graduation. We could encourage the licensed, but inactive, behavioral health professions to return to a more welcoming environment.
A new breed of New Mexican is finding their way into addressing behavioral health, the certified peer support worker. These are individuals who have been through their own trials and diagnoses and have emerged into recovery willing to help others along that road.
They may work with health plans or community programs bringing hard won knowledge to the assistance of others.
We need to let go of the stigma around mental health. Healthy communities revolve around quality behavioral health care.
Acquiring health care early is critical. We need to prioritize state funding and Medicaid for maximal impact and enrollment. Services need to become more available and visible.
Can New Mexico’s Department of Health, which occupies county offices throughout New Mexico, be used for a more statewide presence? Can we pull licensed social workers and counsellors back into a more welcoming work environment? Can certified peer support worker graduates fill many of these roles?
I would like the chance to put my mind and imagination to work on this ever-growing issue in New Mexico and turn these behavioral health concerns into opportunities for achievement.