Carle Health hosted a community conversation on Mental Health Monday at Illinois Wesleyan University for Mental Health Awareness Month, which kicked off May 1.
Around 40 community members attended to hear from three Carle psychiatrists who treat patients in Bloomington-Normal: Rachel Immen, Burgundy Johnson and Alyssa Wood. The trio shared their perspectives on mental health in the area and what people can do to support the community.
A lack of services
Each of the psychiatrists agreed there needs to be more resources available and accessible to people.
“Our mental health system is just not built up to where it should be,” explained Johnson, who works with children and adolescents. “I can't think of one place where it's like, ‘We have definitely enough resources there.’”
Johnson and Wood said part of what inspired them to work in Bloomington-Normal was the child psychiatrist desert here. Both live in Iowa and largely see their area patients via telepsychiatry.
Similarly, while adult psychiatrist Rachel Immen grew up in town, she said she decided to come back and practice here because she saw there was a gap to fill. She said “families are less connected to their communities” and support within them since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When I asked like, say a parent who may benefit from support ‘Who could you call for support?’ the list is pretty short,” she said, adding that “the list has gotten shorter in the last five years.”
Immen explained that people isolated themselves in small social circles, making it harder to reach out and help others, as well as themselves.
All this, while help is still needed.
“Too much demand, not enough supply,” explained Wood, a child and adolescent psychiatrist.
Immen said there are community resources beyond Carle, and she refers patients out to them frequently, but she often hears back that the people never made contact.
“It can be hard to reach out,” she explained.
Johnson said she thinks some people have reached out, but have been “burned” by the system.
“It’s because the system sucks, not because they haven’t tried,” she said. “And even the systems that are good, the hard thing… they get over-utilized. They don’t have enough support.”
Immen added that “it is very hard to knock on doors that don’t open.”
Recommendations
One of Immen’s goals, she said, is to bring more resources to the county, so there’s an opportunity for anyone who needs care to get it. She said good progress has already been made.
“I'm really hopeful that this is leading to tangible change and resources and big areas that we didn't have before,” she said, pointing to Carle’s efforts to get more services.
Wood said she wants to see more mental health professionals added “across different settings,” and schools in particular.
“I think that’d be very powerful,” she said.
At the same time, Johnson said people need to make sure they are taking care of themselves and doing what they need to do to get through the day.
“Don’t be stuck,” she said. “Being stuck is the worst for everyone.”
Johnson said she’s also hopeful for the future, since so many of the youth she sees have high emotional intelligence.
“They’re doing better than everyone else,” she said.
After the panel, Wood told WGLT she hopes the community continues talking about mental health.
“Let's keep the conversation going, because it's so, so important,” she said. “Whenever we are struggling, our struggle thrives on silence, secrecy and judgment, and if we can get past that and keep the conversation going, we can loosen the grip that mental illness has on us.”
Behavioral health practice manager Angie McLaughlin, who moderated the panel, said that she hopes this is the first of many Carle community conversations. No others are currently scheduled.
