There’s No Wrong Door for Mental Health
If you’ve ever gotten the voicemail of a doctor, dentist, professional counselor or any other provider, you’ve heard these words: “If this is an emergency, dial 911 or go to the emergency room of the nearest hospital.” All emergencies come through the same door.
Now imagine you are experiencing a mental health crisis.
The goal is to ensure there is “no wrong door” to those in need. However, in most cases, the biggest challenge is there is only one door: the hospital.
An effective system of behavioral health (including mental health) care needs to provide multiple pathways and entry points for people to seek and receive care. The right care, at the right time, in the right place is essential to ensuring a good outcome for the patient.
Our Military Community needs more doors.
The Military Community is lacking crisis-care services and the resources to invest in our community’s behavioral health system. A safety net is only as strong as its weakest thread. It’s time for our community to join forces for the delivery of mental health services for our entire Military Community.
The need for community-based care, especially crisis care and a warm handoff to caregivers after a patient is stabilized, is essential. Crisis care guidelines recommended by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a division of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, suggest crisis lines, mobile crisis teams, and crisis receiving and stabilization facilities as the model.
In fact, SAMHSA speaks to the inadequate availability of crisis care as a driver of costs due to “overdependence on restrictive, longer-term hospital stays, hospital admissions and overuse of law enforcement.”
Time for innovation
Mental health advocates have the opportunity to innovate behavioral health care models in ways that traditional healthcare has not. Lay people in the community, like teachers and coworkers, can receive specialized training to identify warning signs and help individuals who may benefit from supportive services.
Technology can allow us to map the resources across the state and the locations of therapists to ensure a warm handoff in all our military communities.
The opportunity to take a focused approach to building, strengthening and expanding our behavioral health system is something the Ohana Homefront Foundation is working on.
In the meantime, each of us can play a role in promoting collaboration as we seek to ensure there is no wrong door to mental health services.
Reach out to the Ohana Homefront Foundation at anytime if you need assistance or would like to volunteer to help our Military Community.
Written By: Sarah Otto
Sarah is the 2017 and 2018 NSF Dahlgren Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year and has spent over 2 decades advocating for our Military & their Families. Sarah and her husband are natives of Jefferson City, Missouri but made Virginia home in 2011.
Her husband, Jay, is a US Navy Veteran who retired in 2018 after over 21 years Active Duty. They have 3 (adult) children, a granddaughter, 2 furbabies, and 2 goats.
Sarah believes that the strength of a family, like the strength of our Military, is in its loyalty to each other.
Ohana Homefront Foundation/PO Box 93 | Milford, VA 22514-0093
info@ohanahomefront.org / www.OhanaHomefront.org www.OHFCounseling.org
