By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
There has been a giant push in recent years to raise awareness regarding mental health and eliminate the stigma surrounding treatment. According to a study released by Mental Health America, Kansas is not doing enough. The state ranked last in the nation in overall mental health care, based on mental illness figures and access to health care. Dr. Patrick Stang with the Center for Counseling in Great Bend, said that is not necessarily indicative of access for area residents.
"I think people have fairly good access," he said. "We have services here, Heart of Kansas also has services. We have even outreach clinics to the other counties we serve in Lyons, Larned, and Stafford. I know we've had an uptick in the number of people who have done intakes with us the last few weeks, so people, I think, are seeking care."
Stang said community outreach events like Mental Health Awareness Day and the Women's Expo have helped raise awareness about available services, and the Center for Counseling has improved its services for those needing immediate help.
"We have walk-in intakes that people can come in and do the paperwork, or do it online, and come right in and have their intake the same day instead of scheduling an intake two weeks out like we used to do years ago," he said. "We'd have a lot of people not show up for that because, by that time, they'd either sought care somewhere else or the crisis had passed."
Wisconsin ranked No. 1 for overall mental health in the study. Kansas fell to the bottom based largely on youth reporting substance use disorders, adults with any mental illness, and adults with serious thoughts of suicide. At nine percent, youth using illegal substances ranked No. 51 in the nation, including the District of Columbia, and the other categories ranked 48th.
Stang said percentages can be misleading when dealing with rural populations because just a few instances can drastically increase the percentage, and he said there has been a lot of emphasis on those very problems in the area.
"I know we've been working on that problem with the outreach we do with the kids with the Zero Reasons Why Suicide Prevention thing we've got going in some of the schools in the area," he said. "We do the Glow Walk every year. Suicide Prevention Task Force does that. We're trying to address that and letting people know help is available. I think this 988 Suicide and Mental Health number people can call will make a difference because it will be easier for people to call and not have to remember a long number."
Kansas ranked 37th overall for mental health workforce availability, with one mental health provider for every 470 residents in the state. The national average is one provider for every 350 individuals. See complete results from the study by CLICKING HERE.