OKLAHOMA CITY — Mental health experts discussed ways to continue solving mental health and substance abuse issues in Oklahoma at a “State of Mental Health” event hosted by the Healthy Minds Policy Initiative on Wednesday.
Experts said potential solutions include building the mental health workforce, focusing care on Oklahoma’s youth and making care more affordable and accessible.
“This is a roadmap for change we can continue to follow. The solutions are no longer a mystery,” said Zack Stoycoff, executive director of Healthy Minds Policy Initiative. “No longer should we sit around the table and ask what we should do with mental health care. We know what to do. The progress is happening. It’s happening in city halls. It’s happening in schools and classrooms, in primary care offices and mental health clinics, and, yes, even on the floor of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.”
Zack Stoycoff, executive director of Healthy Minds Policy Initiative, speaks at the State of Mental Health event hosted at the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center in Oklahoma City on Wednesday. (Photo by Emma Murphy/Oklahoma Voice)
Healthy Minds, a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy group that researches mental health and substance abuse, hosted the event for the first time with speakers from national and state-level mental health groups as well as academic experts, lawmakers and other stakeholders.
According to a report from Healthy Minds, 768,000 adult Oklahomans experience mental illness and around 584,000 deal with a substance abuse disorder. Stoycoff said the mental health crisis reaches beyond just hospitals and mental health institutions.
“Primary care physicians and pediatricians see and deal with these issues on a daily basis,” he said. “It is a reality of the job for law enforcement and firefighters, for EMTs and dispatchers. Teachers see mental health issues in the classroom as often as any academic challenge. It is part of life for virtually all Oklahomans, whether directly or because of friends and family.”
Thomas Insel, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health, was the keynote speaker for the event and said that Oklahoma’s work on mental health issues is ahead of other states.
“What has become really interesting to me is that in Oklahoma, some of the things that haven’t happened elsewhere have already begun to happen here,” he said, referring to actions such as funding the 988 mental health hotline. “I just think you need to hear this is pretty exciting, and it’s really hard. It’s going to take a long time, and there can be many, many parts to how this gets built, but I think you’re off to a great start.”
Oklahoma First Lady Sarah Stitt speaks at the State of Mental Health event hosted at the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center in Oklahoma City on Wednesday. (Photo by Emma Murphy/Oklahoma Voice)
Insel spoke of five main problems when it comes to mental health issues on a national level: a lack of capacity, engagement, quality, accountability and equity. As solutions, he proposed greater investment, and care that is person-centered, coordinated, measurement based and recovery based.
Oklahoma First Lady Sarah Stitt said she’s seen conversations about mental health change in her lifetime.
“The conversation is not behind closed doors or in doctor’s offices or with family members, and now it is open,” she said. “It is OK to say that you’re not OK and that you need help. It is OK to advocate for a family member, a friend, or a coworker that you see struggling and can’t advocate for themselves. But we have to create more power to break these cycles. By prioritizing it, we’re not just helping the neighbor, the family member, the person in front of us. We’re actually helping the future generation for Oklahoma.”
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