Partnership to Address Mental Health Crisis
CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the Junior League of Cincinnati today announced a partnership to address the mental health crisis in the Cincinnati area.
In collaboration with Cincinnati Children's, the Junior League has created MindPeace, a project designed to heighten awareness of the need for mental health services for children, eliminate the stigma of children's mental illness and facilitate the development of a mental wellness system for all children in the Cincinnati area.
The Junior League has made a financial commitment of $150,000 toward MindPeace over the next five years. In addition, a team of at least 65 Junior League volunteers will work on the project, which is expected to expand to involve additional community organizations.
"Through collaboration with Cincinnati Children's and our community, our project will be a comprehensive, community-wide program resulting in a hub for mental wellness, education and advocacy for children," says Lauren Thaman-Hodges, president of the Junior League of Cincinnati.
In Cincinnati, children who need outpatient mental health services typically wait up to 12 weeks to receive them. It is estimated that more than 80,000 children in the area need mental health services, but only about 20 percent of them receive treatment.
"Our intake line receives 100 calls a day from families who need psychiatric services," says Michael Sorter, MD, clinical director of Psychiatry at Cincinnati Children's. "Access to health care services must improve, but it will require extensive education and advocacy about mental health issues. That's what MindPeace is all about."
MindPeace will include seven initiatives:
- An effort to enhance collaboration among existing agencies and service providers throughout the area to jointly develop a mental wellness system for children
- Eliminate the stigma of mental illness
- A website for parents to use as a resource on children's mental health issues and for information on services
- Community education
- Advocacy
- Expansion of respite and group services
- Exploration of developing a center for mental wellness, education and advocacy
Many factors in the last decade have led to the current crisis in mental health care. These include attempts to reduce health care costs, employee benefit packages that provide limited mental health services, a demand for services outweighing the supply of mental health practitioners to provide them, and the closure of institutions that once served children and teenagers.
Mill Creek Psychiatric Center closed its doors in the 1990s. So did Jewish Hospital's and University Hospital's Adolescent Psychiatry Units. Crisis intervention programs have closed or cut back services, shifting responsibility to emergency departments. Visits to Cincinnati Children's emergency department for psychiatric services have risen from 1,379 in fiscal year 1999 to 2,893 in fiscal year 2002.
Cincinnati Children's has actively recruited new psychiatrists, and it has expanded its services. These include a Psychiatric Intake Response Center to better manage the increasing volume of calls and a Discharge Care Clinic that provides outpatient psychiatric care to recently discharged patients. In addition, Cincinnati Children's will open a new psychiatric facility in College Hill later this year that will provide comprehensive services, including residential psychiatric care. Nevertheless, the supply of services cannot keep up with the demand, and the gap between the two is expected to grow wider.
Nationally, too, the need for mental health services is reaching epidemic levels. About 20 percent of children and adolescents between the ages of 9 and 17, some 15 million, have diagnosable psychiatric disorders. One in 10 suffers from a mental illness severe enough to cause some impairment, but only one in five who need treatment get it.
The Junior League of Cincinnati is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable. The Junior League has a proud history of helping Cincinnati children and families through the development of programs such as ProKids, Fernside, and the Children's Museum.
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is a 373-bed institution dedicated to the pursuit of perfect health care. It is the only pediatric organization in the United States to receive the prestigious Pursuing Perfection grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation ranks third nationally among all pediatric centers in research grants from the National Institutes of Health. The Cincinnati Children's vision is to be the leader in improving child health, through patient care, research and education.
Contact Information
Jim Feuer, 513-636-4656,
jfeuer@chmcc.org
