Awareness, action and funding urged for Iowa children’s mental health crisis
On average, three children are evaluated for mental health issues every day at Iowa Lutheran Hospital’s emergency department. At the same time, Iowa’s mental health experts say that 80% of children in the state who are struggling with mental health needs never receive treatment.
The creation of a framework for a Children’s Mental Health System in Iowa this year through the passage of House File 690 was a good beginning, but there is still a significant amount of work remaining to increase awareness and funding for all levels of mental health care, Gov. Kim Reynolds told a crowd of about 150 advocates and health leaders this morning in Des Moines.
“We still have a long way to go,” Reynolds said. “But I’m committed to building a network of resources to help [children] get the treatment they deserve.”
The early-morning event at the Science Center of Iowa celebrated the unveiling of the third annual Lifting the Veil magazine. This year, children’s mental health issues were the focus of both the publication and the event, whose five-member panel included professionals who see the crisis up close on a daily basis. Hosted by dsm Magazine, the event was sponsored by Make It OK, an anti-stigma campaign, a program of the Healthiest State Initiative.
A prominent theme during the panel discussion and the subsequent question-and-answer session was the urgent need for funding the newly created Children’s Mental Health System in the upcoming legislative session.
Creating partnerships will continue to be a vital part of addressing children’s mental health needs, said Nina Richtman, program manager for NAMI Iowa and the adoptive mother of two young sons with mental illness.
Richtman said more schools and families should be able to benefit from the connections that her family has been able to create for her sons with the Des Moines school district in which she can invite counselors and others who can help her boys to access information using a Microsoft Teams account she has set up. “I think we need to connect more parents to this service,” she said. “It’s a more connected, responsive base.”
When police have no other options than to transport a child with a mental health emergency to the hospital, the situation often de-escalates as the child calms down en route, said Lorna Garcia, a Mobile Crisis liaison officer with the Des Moines Police Department. As a result, the child is often released hours later, receiving no medication or treatment. Nevertheless, police will respond and will do their best with the system as it stands now, she said.
Another panelist, Lisa Streyffeler, chair and assistant professor of behavioral medicine with Des Moines University, said that more intermediate-level services, such as partial hospitalization programs that children could attend during the day and return home at night, could be helpful.
Among the initiatives at DMU, the medical school is in the third year of a program to educate every third-year student with a course describing what people with mental illness are experiencing, so that they are more comfortable referring or offering treatment.
Legislators need to understand there is urgency — and yes, there are children’s lives on the line because children are dying from suicides — said Anne Starr, CEO of Orchard Place.
And make efforts to bring more awareness into your workplace, Starr said.
“If you work for a large organization, invite us in and ask for a Make It OK ambassador to present,” she said.
Andrew Allen, president and CEO of Youth & Shelter Services in Ames, an agency from which he received addiction treatment 20 years ago when he was 17, said the agency saved his life.
“What I want us to do is to continue telling the story,” he said.