More Communication Needed To Improve Mental Health
by Louis Llovio (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Long before her 16-year-old son was shot and paralyzed, Lawanda Booker tried to get him help.
The boy, Edward Miller, has ADHD, a serious form of dyslexia and severe behavioral issues. In the past, he has beaten his sister and both his parents.
But the South Richmond mother said that despite his issues and troubles, she was never able to get her son the help he needed.
"I looked high and low," she said. "It's ridiculous to seek help before somebody gets in trouble or goes to jail and not be able to get it."
Booker said her son got the help he needed only after he was shot and a neighbor introduced her to New Pathways Youth and Mental Health Support Services Inc. in Richmond.
"He was injured, and from that a lot of kids fall into depression. Our thing was that he didn't spiral down because of his condition," said Maurice Morgan, New Pathways' CEO.
Morgan, who first took on the case as a favor, was then able to link the family with the resources needed to help address all the other issues.
Booker's son is one of hundreds of people with severe mental health issues who are unable to get the help they need and wind up falling through the cracks, only to come to providers' attention when their situations get so bad that they can no longer be ignored.
Mental health advocates across the Richmond area say the main issue affecting these people who drop off the radar or fail to make it into the system is not money, nor is it a lack of available options.
The experts say the biggest issue is communication.
"Across the board, we need to be better informed about our clients," said Moses McClendon, vice president of Cornerstone Youth Services Inc.
McClendon and others say so much goes into an individual patient's treatment that it's imperative that everyone involved in the person's care talk to one another.
In a situation like Booker's, for instance, several agencies talking to one another could have developed a better profile of Miller and gotten him the help he needed.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, there about 262,000 adults and about 82,000 children in Virginia living with "serious mental health conditions."
While communication is important in all health issues, the radical difference among mental health issues makes it all the more crucial that those involve talk, experts say.
New Pathways' Morgan said it's not uncommon for people to be released from mental hospitals with a prescription, a list of objectives and contact numbers.
While those items help, they are of little use to a person who is unable — or, in some cases, unwilling — to follow up.
"Your first day out and you're on your own already," Morgan said. "You send them home in cabs with papers in their hands. No. No. No. The system needs to change."
He advocates for funds to be reallocated in a way that creates teams of specialists who have experience working with specific clients.
"There's a bunch of resources out there (for people); you have to know who they are and where to find them," he said.
Hanover County already takes the team approach in helping children with mental health and behavioral issues.
The county has adopted a program called Kids Intensive Treatment Team, or KITT. The program was designed to treat children with emotional issues in their homes as opposed to putting them in group homes or hospitals.
It's a collaborative effort among the Community Services Board, Social Services and other community resources.
The agencies work to identify children with issues, and then get clinicians and counselors to treat them.
The county said the goal of the program is to reduce the number of days that children spend in group homes or hospitals by 20 percent in the first year.
In a county newsletter from 2011, the county said that in the first 12 months, it had reduced the number of days by 31 percent.
Debbie Burcham, executive director of Chesterfield County's Community Services Board, said the county works hard to make sure that information about a person's condition is readily available to all care providers within its system.
"We are responsible for coordinating care among all providers, and we do that as long as we have permission from the individual we're treating," she said.
Burcham said that electronic health records are available to providers working within her in agency in order make sure everyone working with an individual has the most updated information.
If something happens to someone on a Tuesday, the county wants to make sure that that person's doctor is aware of it at an appointment Wednesday, she said.
As for providers outside of the county's system, Burcham said every effort is made to secure the patient's permission to share information.
"It is a complicated system, and it is a complicated disorder," she said. "We work really hard to serve the people that come to us for services and certainly understand the need for coordination of care."
But Morgan, who believes that Hanover's KITT could be a blueprint, said that for any treatment to be effective, the person who is ill needs to be a willing participant.
"These people don't want to be like this," he said. "They want to get help."
In the case of Lawanda Booker's son, getting shot put him on track to get help. He still has issues — mental illness is treated, not cured — but is seeing counselors and getting the treatment he needs.
"He's going to be a man in two years and is getting a shot," Booker said.
The boy, Edward Miller, has ADHD, a serious form of dyslexia and severe behavioral issues. In the past, he has beaten his sister and both his parents.
But the South Richmond mother said that despite his issues and troubles, she was never able to get her son the help he needed.
"I looked high and low," she said. "It's ridiculous to seek help before somebody gets in trouble or goes to jail and not be able to get it."
Booker said her son got the help he needed only after he was shot and a neighbor introduced her to New Pathways Youth and Mental Health Support Services Inc. in Richmond.
"He was injured, and from that a lot of kids fall into depression. Our thing was that he didn't spiral down because of his condition," said Maurice Morgan, New Pathways' CEO.
Morgan, who first took on the case as a favor, was then able to link the family with the resources needed to help address all the other issues.
Booker's son is one of hundreds of people with severe mental health issues who are unable to get the help they need and wind up falling through the cracks, only to come to providers' attention when their situations get so bad that they can no longer be ignored.
Mental health advocates across the Richmond area say the main issue affecting these people who drop off the radar or fail to make it into the system is not money, nor is it a lack of available options.
The experts say the biggest issue is communication.
"Across the board, we need to be better informed about our clients," said Moses McClendon, vice president of Cornerstone Youth Services Inc.
McClendon and others say so much goes into an individual patient's treatment that it's imperative that everyone involved in the person's care talk to one another.
In a situation like Booker's, for instance, several agencies talking to one another could have developed a better profile of Miller and gotten him the help he needed.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, there about 262,000 adults and about 82,000 children in Virginia living with "serious mental health conditions."
While communication is important in all health issues, the radical difference among mental health issues makes it all the more crucial that those involve talk, experts say.
New Pathways' Morgan said it's not uncommon for people to be released from mental hospitals with a prescription, a list of objectives and contact numbers.
While those items help, they are of little use to a person who is unable — or, in some cases, unwilling — to follow up.
"Your first day out and you're on your own already," Morgan said. "You send them home in cabs with papers in their hands. No. No. No. The system needs to change."
He advocates for funds to be reallocated in a way that creates teams of specialists who have experience working with specific clients.
"There's a bunch of resources out there (for people); you have to know who they are and where to find them," he said.
Hanover County already takes the team approach in helping children with mental health and behavioral issues.
The county has adopted a program called Kids Intensive Treatment Team, or KITT. The program was designed to treat children with emotional issues in their homes as opposed to putting them in group homes or hospitals.
It's a collaborative effort among the Community Services Board, Social Services and other community resources.
The agencies work to identify children with issues, and then get clinicians and counselors to treat them.
The county said the goal of the program is to reduce the number of days that children spend in group homes or hospitals by 20 percent in the first year.
In a county newsletter from 2011, the county said that in the first 12 months, it had reduced the number of days by 31 percent.
Debbie Burcham, executive director of Chesterfield County's Community Services Board, said the county works hard to make sure that information about a person's condition is readily available to all care providers within its system.
"We are responsible for coordinating care among all providers, and we do that as long as we have permission from the individual we're treating," she said.
Burcham said that electronic health records are available to providers working within her in agency in order make sure everyone working with an individual has the most updated information.
If something happens to someone on a Tuesday, the county wants to make sure that that person's doctor is aware of it at an appointment Wednesday, she said.
As for providers outside of the county's system, Burcham said every effort is made to secure the patient's permission to share information.
"It is a complicated system, and it is a complicated disorder," she said. "We work really hard to serve the people that come to us for services and certainly understand the need for coordination of care."
But Morgan, who believes that Hanover's KITT could be a blueprint, said that for any treatment to be effective, the person who is ill needs to be a willing participant.
"These people don't want to be like this," he said. "They want to get help."
In the case of Lawanda Booker's son, getting shot put him on track to get help. He still has issues — mental illness is treated, not cured — but is seeing counselors and getting the treatment he needs.
"He's going to be a man in two years and is getting a shot," Booker said.
