Mental health care access lacking

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
Mental health care in Wyoming is in a crisis, according to Heath Steele, president of the Wyoming Association of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers, and Weston County’s situation is in the same condition. 
“Wyoming is the worst ranked state, at 29.8 deaths due to intentional self-harm per 100,000 population, twice the national average,” Steele said in a Dec. 9 letter to the editor. “The system is stressed with more than 28,000 Wyoming citizens accessing state funded mental healthcare last year – this is in addition to those Wyoming citizens who used insurance or were able to private pay for services.” 
“This crisis was not caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, but it has certainly been exacerbated by COVID-19. Perpetually underfunded and understaffed mental healthcare providers in all 23 counties of Wyoming are finding it harder than ever to provide adequate care for the increased rate of substance abuse, mental health disorders, and other behavioral health issues,” he continued. 
Weston County is facing all of these issues and the lack of access is even higher among youth, according to Weston County Sheriff Bryan Colvard, Weston County School District No. 1 Superintendent Brad LaCroix, Deputy Weston County Attorney Jeani Stone and Tonjua Messmer, the juvenile probation worker for the Wyoming Department of Health.
Weston County’s mental health care is provided by Northern Wyoming Mental Health Center’s Weston County Behavioral Health Office. According to the most recent data available on its website, during fiscal year 2020, the office served a total of 114 clients, providing 7,223 services for 4,707 service hours. 
Despite people having access to mental health care locally, Stone said that accessing the needed care can be difficult for anyone, especially youth. 
“My understanding is that Northern Wyoming Mental Health doesn’t provide juvenile substance abuse treatment locally,” Stone said. “Those kids that require that treatment or evaluation have to look outside of the community for services.” 
She noted that the same can be said for adults, depending on the level of care needed. Specifically, Stone said, there are no psychiatrists or psychologists located in Weston County, so anyone needing more in-depth services likely has to reach outside the county or state to access needed services. 
According to Stone, accessing outside help can prove to be challenging for many with the biggest issues she sees. Those challenges for families can be transportation limitations, financial restrictions or a simple lack of time to make the commitment to travel. 
Messmer noted that initial evaluations, outside of regular mental health care visits, can cost between $100 and $1,200, depending on the evaluation needed. On top of that, there are costs for transportation, medications and regular appointments. 
Both Stone and Messmer said that in a majority of juvenile mental health issues, parent or adult mental health issues are closely related. 
“Adults can get some services they may need here, so that is good,” Stone said. But, Messmer said, some don’t want to access services locally. 
According to Messmer, living in a small community, with the stigma on mental health issues, some prefer not to seek local care. 
“We do have a handful of counselors and therapists coming in to provide services, so that has been encouraging,” Stone said. 
Stone said that one benefit of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the use of telehealth to provide mental health care. She explained that most youth have begun accessing their mental health care providers through telehealth instead of traveling. 
And youth aren’t the only ones benefiting from telehealth. 
“For all the problems COVID-19 has caused, the pandemic has given us the opportunity to evaluate and modernize the way behavioral healthcare is provided in Wyoming,” Steele said in his letter. “The expanded acceptance of telehealth is an excellent example. Many providers switched to telehealth out of necessity upon the onset of the pandemic, but it has proven to be extremely useful in providing access to crucial mental health services in rural communities.” 
But the lack of access to mental health care isn’t the only concerning trend Stone has seen during her roughly 25 years working in the field in northeast Wyoming. 
“At any given point, we have 15 neglect cases involving children. Those are either neglect or abuse. And 15 or so delinquent or child in need of supervision cases at the same time. With those cases, you see mental health and substance abuse needs,” Stone said. 
“Overall, we are seeing an increase in kids needing mental health services and they are becoming younger and younger. A pretty good chunk of the kids that need services are needing them at younger ages. We are seeing fifth- and sixth-graders with substance abuse and mental health issues,” she continued, noting that the level of the mental health issues is also concerning. 
“Some of them have some pretty significant issues,” Stone said. 
With the hopes of lessening the burden of accessing mental health care for juveniles in Weston County School District No. 1, the district received a $10,000 Nunn Grant from the Foundation of the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming to help with mental health needs of students in the district. 
Janet Hutchinson, a member of  Christ Episcopal Church, worked with the school district and its counselors to apply for the grant. LaCroix said that the money will be used to help families with anything from travel expenses to medications. 
“The overall purpose of the funding would be to help with costs of mental health sessions and/or psychiatric evaluations (outside of the school setting), travel to those sessions and cost of prescriptions for mental health needs for students,” Hutchinson said. “So many times counselors need to seek outside counseling for students to go deeper than what their time
with them at school allows, mainly due to the high number of students needing counseling.”