Early intervention resources are limited and there are many barriers to access regardless of ability to pay for services. There are significant gaps and a lack of coordination in youth mental health services and as a result, many youth and families are not able to access resources when they are struggling which often leads to unnecessary crisis.
Parents and youth often isolate because of the shame and stigma associated with mental health. Parents from all socioeconomic levels deserve to have an environment where they can be open and honest about their child’s struggles.
The Santa Barbara community needs more comprehensive youth mental health services which include access to psychiatrists, psychologists, and therapists. With programs that do exist, there are often waiting lists and we have youth and families that are not able to get support when they need it. There are very few programs giving parents the tools they need to support their youth struggling with mental health or addiction issues.
We have youth that are sent out of the county and state to receive services through wilderness programs, residential treatment, and therapeutic boarding schools. We have families driving out of the county in order to find adequate psychiatric support. These are costly alternatives for families and they add many more stressors with potentially negative impacts. A common theme for students in recovery is loneliness when they transition home from programs. Schools, providers, parents, and youth need to understand the pitfalls and successes that accompany the process of integrating back into their families and communities.
Our resource directories and support lines are fragmented and do not serve everyone. Conversations with multiple providers have identified a lack of coordination and follow up when referring families for services. We need to collect data and understand the barriers to access.
Making solid connections through warm handoffs for youth and parents, despite the stressors of facing mental health, will increase the quality of life for families and reduce the stressors.
[outlined in 2018]
HOW DOES THE YOUTHWELL COLLABORATIVE APPROACH THE NEED...
[1] How do we effectively connect families to mental health support services?
- Map and evaluate our existing youth programs, parent support, and referral process.
- Determine where we need to expand, collaborate and educate.
- Develop a better understanding of what is available to both MediCal, low income and private pay youth and their families. Research models that allow both MediCal and private pay insurance.
- Develop a protocol for resource and referral that provides a warm-handoff and ensures access to care.
- Identify 1 crisis & compassion phone line, 1 text line, and 1 resource directory.
Expand SAFTY to be both a crisis and compassion hotline/warmline.
- Create a response system that fosters communication and cooperation across agencies.
- Identify one agency to manage an online universal database (online service directory) of resources related to Youth Mental Health to include both private sector and public agency service providers.
- Create a Youth Resource & Referral list that includes all school-based agencies and the services they provide making it easier for counselors and parents to navigate rather than multi-flyers. Update annually.
- Improve coordination of data collection and shared evaluation.
- Create a multi-agency project to collect data on the referral process when youth are referred elsewhere.
- Explore options around data collection and referrals in order to develop systems that allow for warm handoffs which create an accountability process through the transfer of service provider responsibility. Provide mental health data and information to other community groups with overlapping goals.
[2] How do we increase services, improve coordination of providers, and ensure cultural competency?
- Funding - There is a need for multi-year funding so that Collaborating Partners can focus on implementing initiatives and creating sustainability. Research and act on funding opportunities, including community donations, grants and federal funding. The coalition supports the activities of many service providers so we anticipate cost sharing through collaborative projects inspired by it.
- Talk to parents and youth and find out what is not working and why. Look for improved outcomes by identifying the gaps and barriers, expanding capacity of accessible services, and encouraging systemic changes through community collaboration and leveraging relationships.
- Explore long term solutions to provide accessible support to students both on and off campus that address prevention, intervention, crisis response, treatment & aftercare.
- Provide youth access to high quality resources that are able to meet their unique mental health needs.
- Increase communication and coordination between service providers, schools, and families to leverage resources, and provide greater quality of support.
- Work with school districts to strengthen support programs within the schools. We need to assist the counselors who are working directly with the students in making the necessary community connections.
- Support launch of a “multi-agency” parent support groups and provide parent education. When parents set boundaries and shift their behaviors, the entire family begins to change.
- Expand Services
- Work with Stanford and Santa Clara County to evaluate local viability of an integrated health care space for youth in Santa Barbara modeled after the Headspace/Foundry models. This model serves youth, 12-25, experiencing mild to moderate mental health issues, while offering primary care, substance abuse early intervention and support for education and employment. https://med.stanford.edu/psychiatry/special-initiatives/headspace.html
- Support launch of a “multi-agency” teen resilience group for students in aftercare/transition.
- Explore shared transportation options amongst providers to transport students after school to programs.
[3] How do we reduce stigma and shame and promote institutional change in our community so that families feel comfortable asking for help?
- Increase awareness and understanding around mental health. Inspire a community culture change in order to reduce the stigma and shame and create a safe environment that allows students and parents to ask for help.
- Provide ongoing education and trainings for service providers, parents, and teachers to create more understanding of the issues as well as to provide tools so individuals are better equipped.
- Provide professional development trainings for therapists and teachers, and education for parents, caregivers, community and students.
- Host speakers and panels. Consider an annual 1 day Student Mental Wellness Community Connection [similar format to PFE or Parent University in Chicago].
- Many agencies provide internal training for staff that could benefit other agencies, parents and school counselors if they were made available. Assess existing opportunities for training and education utilizing our local agencies and coordinate an annual calendar. Collaborate with CADA, DVS, NAMI, MWC, Pacific Pride, Just Communities, Hospice, Rape Crisis Center, SBRN, etc. to leverage our local resources and reduce costs (versus using as many outside consultants).
- Public Education Campaign: Coordinate a campaign with a unified message that fosters awareness and educates on the signs of emotional distress focused on hope, resilience, know the signs, It’s ok to ask for help, & self-care. (ie: look for additional opportunities like back to school night to reach parents directly.) Partner with Youth Wellness Connection on high school campuses focused on positive messaging campaigns for students.
- The schools currently have many organizations providing school-based services which can include curriculum in the health classes, support services, and campus outreach clubs. The challenge for the agencies is establishing consistency amongst schools and even in the classrooms as to what is being provided and the time it takes to coordinate. The challenge for the schools is that their primary focus needs to be academics and coordinating social-emotional support on campus can be time consuming and challenging.
- The Youth Service Providers Committee will work on setting goals for leveraging partnerships and working more effectively on the campuses and in alignment with the school district’s goals.
- Communication with staff, educational email blasts through Parent Square, coordinated surveys of students and parents for evidenced based research.
- Work in partnership with school districts on providing curriculum in health classes and/or making it available to teachers.
- Explore options with schools for “special topic seminars” during seminar period.
