This week, the state senate passed a bill to create state commission on behavioral health. The idea emerged from a coalition of private and public health care providers and systems.
One month ago, The Utah Behavioral Health Coalition released a master plan outlining the gaps in Utah’s mental health care system.
Tammer Atallah is the Executive Clinical Director of the Behavioral Health Clinical Program for Intermountain Health and serves on the coalition. He said, “50% of those people that have mental health diagnosis, don't have the opportunity to seek treatment. If you're a youth 58% of those with a diagnosable mental health condition, don't access treatment.”
Think of all the people behind those numbers. They include mothers of very young children, and older children themselves.
“We know that mothers of children under the age of three have higher rates of mental distress, actually highest in the country, than any other group. We know that anxiety with youth is some of the highest numbers in the country,” said Atallah.
The Coalition also said Utah adults report the third highest prevalence of serious mental illness. There are other factors, including Utahns who live far from any city.
Atallah said, “how do we meet the needs of those individuals in those communities in meaningful ways?
The master plan diagnoses the primary challenges in the system, including a shortage of trained workers, a web of different requirements from different programs creating and administrative burden, and what they call siloed systems duplicating efforts.
“There's a lot of great work going on in Utah. And there's some challenges coordinating all the work, the education system is doing things. The health system, of course, is doing things, the public system is doing things, and yet we kind of tend to do that in parallel,” said Atallah.
Utah Senate Bill 27 outlines a commission on behavioral health. Attalah thinks a commission could de-clutter the system so each player can be more effective.
“That’s really what we want. We want a frictionless system that allows people to feel comfortable to get the care.”
If the house passes Senate Bill 27 and the Governor signs it, the Behavioral Health Commission is estimated to cost taxpayers just under $200-thousand a year.
