The Seedling

In an article in the Arizona Republic recently, they discuss the emotional and mental health toll the worsening economy is having on Americans.

This does not seem like this should be surprising news.

Or maybe I am biased in that as a crisis counselor this was apparent in the first few weeks of the economic downturn. We are a society dependent on money and when there is no money, we are going to have more stress. People are losing jobs left and right, thus not able to pay for their cars, their homes, their kids education. You name it, the economy is effecting it. And yes, our stress level is increasing which in turn will lead to an increase in depression and physical health issues.

I can only hope that we start to see a leveling off and a light at the end of the tunnel.

The CEO of Magellan, the Regional Behavioral Health Authority for Maricopa County, is drinking the Kool-Aid. His level of denial is unreal. Magellan has been audited in the last few months and the results have been less than stellar. And he has the nerve to say things are moving forward? Really? Has he been reading the news? Did he look at the audit? Has he talked to consumers? or better yet, has he talked to providers? The consensus would be that the system has taken a drastic nose dive since Magellan took over from Value Options. When will we learn that a for-profit agency CAN NOT run a non-for-profit field. Mental health is not a money-making machine. I think I speak for a lot of us in the mental health arena here in Phoenix when I say that the end of this contract with Magellan can not come soon enough.

I receive daily news updates from Social Work Today, which is THE publication for social workers. Recently a news article reported on the idea that young adults who develop PTSD after being exposed to a traumatic event may be more likely to attempt suicide than those young adults who do not develop PTSD. As a social worker and crisis counselor, this finding is very disturbing. While there is not direct cause and effect relationship, it certainly makes sense and could explain a lot. In my job, I work with all ages, but it seems more and more, we are being called out to talk to kids. And more and more, suicide is the reason. It is scary to think that so many young adults see suicide as a viable option. It definitely tells me we need to do so much more in our society to help prevent this way of thinking. Now is not the time to cut funding to social service agencies.

On azcentral today there was another negative story about the way Magellan is running the mental health system in Maricopa County. This time the focus is on the Urgent Psychiatric Care Center (UPC) at 2nd St and Roosevelt.

In my job as a crisis counselor in the county, I frequently have contact with UPC as we bring clients there for emergency mental health treatment. We have known for years that this has not been a well oiled machine but with Magellan taking over those of us in the field thought we’d see positive changes. According to the article, this is not happening.

An audit has found that UPC is not placing clients who are there for more than the initial 23 hours into inpatient beds, even when they have inpatient beds available. This is ridiculous. There is no reason to not provide proper care to clients in need of help. UPC was also found to not provide the proper documentation and treatment plans, as directed in the contract with the state.

It is disturbing that I am not shocked by the findings as, like I said, as a crisis worker I frequently have to utilize this facility in order to help clients. And it is not a facility that is customer friendly. I hope these recent audits and findings make enough waves to make REAL changes in our system. Only time will tell.