How Missouri health care providers are addressing the mental health crisis

The calls for help continue, even after the pandemic has subsided. In April, Missouri Department of Mental Health director Valerie Huhn told the State Board of Education, “Mental health is just like a broken arm for kids,” according to an article on Missourinet.com. “We would never let them walk around with a broken arm. We need to start making sure we are addressing the things that are impacting mental health and that we are talking about mental health.”

Approximately 42 percent of U.S. high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2021, while 22 percent considered suicide, per 2022 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for 10- to 14-year-olds in Missouri, yet St. Louis and surrounding areas have fewer than half of the psychiatric beds needed to address this crisis,” St. Louis Children’s Hospital president Trish Lollo said in a press release announcing the hospital’s joint venture with KVC Missouri, including plans to create a world-class children’s behavioral health hospital and residential program at KVC’s Webster Groves campus, in addition to an outpatient treatment center.

Mental health also remains a top concern for college-age students. According to 2021 data from the National Institute of Mental Health, young adults between ages 18 and 25 have the highest prevalence of any mental illness (33.7 percent) and serious mental illness (11.4 percent). (By comparison, the percentages for all U.S. adults was 22.8 percent with any mental illness and 5.5 percent with serious mental illness.)

“We’re seeing a huge rise in mental health diagnoses,” says Kendra Johnston, director of Saint Louis University’s Center for Accessibility and Disability Resources. In 2021, the center partnered with the school’s Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy to open a sensory room, including a sensory swing, a giant beanbag chair and weighted blanket, a sound machine, a stone water fountain, and tactile sensory objects. Johnston initially thought students with autism spectrum disorder could benefit from the room, “but then we started talking about the ways in which a sensory room can [also] assist other students, [including] students with ADHD and students with mental health diagnoses,” says Johnston. After receiving feedback, CADR opened the sensory room to all SLU students. “Those who use this space have given us overwhelmingly positive feedback,” Johnston says.

Washington University’s Pediatric and Adolescent Ambulatory Research Consortium is also finding ways to provide mental health support across the region. The consortium consists of more than 60 St. Louis pediatric practices that have a shared goal of developing standard processes for mental health disorder diagnosis and management. Among other initiatives, the group has implemented a depression care and treatment-coaching intervention program at area pediatric practices; incorporated mental health care into environments with medical services, such as The SPOT, a WashU–operated community youth center; and partnered with Missouri’s Community Psychiatry Access Projects to develop a follow-up care coordinator role to connect adolescents and their families with mental health services.

“We all have a role to play in listening and paying attention to young people’s well-being and being an important link to care and treatment by acknowledging pain, loneliness, and hopelessness that some young people may be feeling,” says WU PAARC co-director Katie Plax. “Never underestimate what any one of us can do by being an authentic listener.”

For adults who have mental health concerns, it can be difficult to find and maintain employment. (In the U.S., more than 1 in 5 adults have a mental illness, and around 1 in 25 have a serious mental illness, such as major depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)

Supported employment initiatives, such as the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model, are designed to help. For more than a decade, BJC Behavioral Health has been an IPS site. The team helps people with serious mental illness find competitive work and provides continuous support. “It’s zero exclusion,” says Jenise Woolf, community services supervisor at BJC Behavioral Health. “You just have to be motivated to work.” The BJC Behavioral Health team partners with a broader care team to support clients. For IPS clients receiving vocational rehabilitation, a counselor is part of the support team. “It’s not just helping people find and keep a job,” says Woolf. “This is part of their treatment and their recovery.”

If you are experiencing a mental-health, suicide, substance-use crisis, or any other emotional distress, call or text 988.