More than 1 million Georgians live with a mental illness, and more than 1,000 Georgians have died by suicide in the past year. Georgia’s emergency mental health system is designed to help people in crisis. WUGA’s Emma Auer sought to find out how well this system works and how advocates say it can be reformed.
Lauren McNeese is from Tennessee and lives with several mental health diagnoses. However, she will be the first to say that her mental health condition does not define her.
“I’m 21 years old and currently working at a senior living facility in Chattanooga, where I discovered my passion for working with seniors.
population. And today, she just changed her major from English to nursing,” she says.
She received treatment at a mental health facility in the Atlanta area last year before being transferred to a behavioral health hospital in northeast Georgia, where she became familiar with the state’s emergency mental health system.
“Honestly, I think I left more traumatized than I was when I started. But in the end, this facility saved me,” she explains.
Months later, she is now “recovering” from her diagnosis. But what does recovery mean to her?
“Recovery is non-linear and recovery is difficult. Recovery is a path to hope and healing, and it is only achieved through hard work and perseverance,” says McNeese.
Recovery has been a winding road, McNeese said. For many Georgians, it’s a path that can seem confusing and inaccessible.
“Part of the problem we have here in Georgia is we don’t have a clear path.”
That person is Kim Jones, executive director of the Georgia chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). She said that for many Georgians, the road to recovery begins in the emergency room, which is often not equipped to care for people in emotional distress. This is important because approximately one in seven emergency room visits are mental health related.
“When they go to the emergency room, they find that the emergency department is not equipped to handle a mental health crisis. They often don’t have the right doctors on staff and they don’t have the right facilities. No,” Jones explains.
NAMI Georgia is advocating for the implementation of so-called EmPATH units as a complement to emergency rooms. EmPATH stands for Emergency Psychiatric Assessment, Treatment and Healing.
“In short, the EmPATH unit is a physical environment located in the emergency department that is designed to allow acute patients to undergo assessment and evaluation in the least restrictive environment.”
Recent studies have shown promising results.
“Psychiatric inpatients have decreased from 50% of psychiatric ED patients when it was an EmPATH unit to 27%. Almost half of the patients have been diverted from psychiatric inpatients,” Jones says. .
Reducing inpatient admissions is critical to reducing the burden on behavioral health hospitals.
“Part of the problem we have right now is people are having to wait a long time to get into the facility. So there’s a problem that emergency rooms call boarding, which is keeping patients in the emergency room, Sometimes we have to put them on stretchers in the middle of hallways, sometimes we have to keep them in rooms that aren’t properly designed for people with mental illness. It’s a health crisis,” Jones explained.
Based on her own experience, Lauren McNeese says it’s clear why EmPATH units are useful.
“Sometimes it’s enough to have a qualified professional walk you through it. ‘Okay, you’re in this pain. Is there anything I can do to help you? , is there anything I can do to calm myself down?’
“We don’t necessarily need a hospital. If you need a hospital, you need a hospital, and you should definitely go to the hospital and be admitted. “I do,” McNeese elaborates.
EmPATH units operate in several states across the country. Jones says public assistance would allow him to come to Georgia.
“Georgians need to call their legislators and tell them that mental health is important to them, that these EmPATH units will make a difference, and that they want these EmPATH units in their communities. What we’re looking for is a public-private grant program similar to the one in South Carolina. These EmPATH units will be done in partnership with local hospitals and the grant will be $3 million. That’s what we did in South Carolina, and that’s what we support. We rank 48th among all states in access to care. For Georgia lawmakers, there couldn’t be a better time to take action. “I can’t do that,” Jones said.
NAMI Georgia is advocating for the implementation of EmPATH units across the state, including freestanding units in rural areas that are difficult for hospitals to access.
If you or a loved one is struggling with thoughts of suicide or in crisis, help is available. Dial 988 or send a text message to speak to a mental health professional.
