This story is the sixth and final installment of the KUNR series. Mental Health in the Silver State.
Nevada ranks last in the nation in overall mental health, according to a 2022 report published by UNLV which examines, among other things, the prevalence of mental health problems and access to care.
The state has faced provider shortage issues for years, said John Packham, associate dean of the Office of Statewide Initiatives at the University of Nevada Reno (UNR) School of Medicine Med).
“Near 3 million Nevadans reside in an area with a shortage of mental health professionals. That’s about 86% of the population,” Packham said. “Our 14 rural and border counties are all rural, so the problems are acute. »
Although there have been improvements in public and private insurance coverage, the biggest barrier is a lack of providers, Packham said.
“If you have an insurance card in your pocket and you don’t have a provider, that barrier is still pretty significant,” he said.
Another barrier to the workforce is that these types of jobs are emotionally taxing for providerssaid Dr. Takesha Cooper, chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UNR Med and chief of behavioral health at Renown.
“We’re really working to educate health care providers, really talking about how we can support each other on a daily basis when we’re going through tough times,” Cooper said. “And help people say, ‘Wow, this is hard work, but it’s meaningful work.’ » »
Health impacts can be severe if there is a shortage of providers, Cooper said. Community members may suffer alone, have long wait times or even end up in hospital.
She would like to see more opportunities for graduate medical education, residency programs and fellowships. The UNR Med program trains six psychiatry residents each year, and its goal is to increase that number to 10. However, many must leave the state due to the limited number of residency places available.
“We really need to engage young people early on, helping students, especially first-generation students, underrepresented students in medicine, really making them understand that this is an option for them,” Cooper said .
Efforts are also being made to ensure that the current workforce accurately represents the Nevada community it serves. The High Sierra Area Health Education Center (AHEC) offers a 9-hour cultural competency training course. Nevada healthcare providers are required to follow this type of program every two years to renew their license.
The training addresses the intersections of race and ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity, and what it means to not have adequate access to health care. This is crucial for mental health workers, said Ricardo Rubalcaba-Paredes, program coordinator for AHEC’s diversity department, Nevada Cultural Competency.
“If a mental health worker understands, or is open to understanding, what it means to exist in a sort of intersection between queerness, being brown, and also being a first-generation Mexican-American , so it makes me more comfortable as a mental health worker. patient,” Rubalcaba-Paredes said.
AHEC can also be found in the classroom – teaching students about careers in the medical field. Sara Hunt, assistant dean for behavioral health sciences at UNLV Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, is work to support this.
A new state law which was passed in the spring will establish a Center for Behavioral Workforce Development as part of the Nevada system of higher education. Initially, it will be based at UNLV and will provide outreach to students and adults interested in entering this field. Nevada’s behavioral health education, retention and expansion network, called BeHERE NV, could be up and running as early as this spring.
Hunt said it’s important because mental health is often overlooked.
“When we look at careers in mental health versus other health care disciplines, we just haven’t appeared in this K-12 space to get students to start thinking about work options in the field of mental and behavioral health,” Hunt said. “Not like our nursing colleagues. They do a very good job in this regard.
This is partly due to stigma, something Hunt sees improving as more people talk more openly about mental health.
“That can still pose a challenge when it comes to workforce development,” she said. “The realization that mental health is health care and being able to talk about emotional and mental difficulties and struggles is still not widely accepted or openly discussed, like we talk about physical care and primary care .”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifebuoy. Go to NAMINevada.org for a list of resources and other information.
