JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – One in five Mississippians is struggling with mental health conditions, and May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a month to shed light on mental health conditions and resources that are available in the community.
Dr. Mark Ladner, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at UMMC, said finding help and treatment when dealing with mental health is critical.
“One of the biggest risk factors in a non-treated mental illness is suicide, and we certainly want to do everything we can to prevent that,” Ladner said. “Also, many of the psychiatric disorders that we treat are chronic and can be very disabling. People can lose careers, jobs, marriages, you know, their social life is severely impaired.”
Help is available for everyone, including low-income families and individuals who may feel care is out of reach.
“Majority of those resources are provided through 12 community mental health centers that are available across the state, and they have a sliding scale fee, and they can help individuals who need to receive services but may be struggling with an ability to pay,” said Wendy Bailey, executive director for the Mississippi Department of Mental Health.
Those community centers provide a wide range of services, from crisis response to intensive community support services for children and adults.
Bailey said reaching out is important, especially with the growing numbers in the state.
In the first six months of the fiscal year, Bailey said there were almost 14,000 calls to 988, the behavioral health crisis line. A number she said has risen by 20% to 30% since it launched in the state.
“The more open that we are to having those conversations and picking up that phone and making that call to 988 or to the help line or go visit your community mental health center, that’s when you do see an increase in the number of people who are receiving services,” Bailey said.
To learn more information about resources available and where to find a community mental health center, visit the Department of Mental Health’s website or call 988.
“Realizing that it’s OK to not be OK and there’s people there to help and that help is available for everyone in our state,” Bailey said.
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