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MARCH/APRIL 2021 WWW.HEALTHCARENEWS.COM 7
MENTAL HEALTH CONT’D
Tamera Crenshaw says barriers to accessing mental healthcare are myriad, ranging from insurance and finances to religious beliefs to societal stigma.
Impact
Continued from page 5
An uptick in suicidal ideation is especially concerning, Crenshaw said. “Some- one can have a baseline of thought, but when kids are actually expressing a plan or intent, it’s scary. And we’re definitely seeing an increase.”
factors: a longing to end a year of isolation and get back to school, and health fears about the safety of doing so, especially for kids who know someone who has died of COVID.
“These kids have not been forgotten, but even with a vaccine, they’re going to be vac- cinated last,” she noted. “I can’t imagine there’s not a fear of going back into the school envi- ronment when they haven’t been vaccinated.”
The issues are deep and complex, and solu-
tions aren’t easy. But, like most others in the
mental-health field, Crenshaw says the first step
to helping young people take charge of mental-health issues is clear and simple.
“You’ve got to name it.”
Start the Conversation
That means breaking through societal stigma surrounding these struggles.
“My mission is to destigmatize mental health,” Crenshaw said, noting that several factors contribute to that stigma and the resulting reluctance to seek help. “I want to help debunk that stigma.”
Beyond attitudes toward mental health, another barrier is financial — the chal- lenge of accessing insurance that will pay for treatment, or, for those who don’t have it, navigating out-of-pocket costs while already struggling economically, she added.
A third factor is religious belief, specifically a belief by some churchgoers that mental-health professionals are at odds with faith, or that faith makes such help unnecessary. “We’re trying to educate churches and knock down that barrier,” she
Please see Impact, page 38
Some of the factors are typical stressors on teens in any given year, but despon- dency has certainly been driven by greater eco-
nomic instability, which can raise tension and
anxiety in the home, as well as two competing
“My mission is to destigmatize mental health. I want to help debunk that stigma.”