Bright side to COVID-19 pandemic? Mental health care easier to access in Pierce County
Finding help for behavioral health and substance abuse disorder in Pierce County just became easier — in large part because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, anyone seeking therapy, substance detox or access to medication can call 211 to be connected to a provider.
President and CEO of HopeSparks, Joe LeRoy, called a new organization of community services providers in the county “the one good thing” to come out of the pandemic.
“I am hoping it is a golden opportunity to be innovative and not go back to the way things were,” he told The News Tribune.
Pierce County Connected, a community nonprofit, and Elevate Health, a health equity nonprofit, organized 12 behavioral, mental health and substance abuse disorder providers across the county to have a single “entry point.”
South Sound 211 is a call center that connects Pierce County residents with resources to become “self-sufficient.” The free helpline works with nonprofits and health care providers to bridge residents to basic necessities like access to housing, diapers, utility assistance and child care. There are specific navigators who can spend time coordinating with the caller on their needs, 211 director Penni Belcher said.
Once the coronavirus hit, behavioral health and substance abuse providers and nonprofits began talking about how to streamline services and strip down barriers to getting help, said Norinda Yancey, vice president of United Way, which oversees the 211 program.
Once the “behavioral health pod” was created in March, Belcher said, the process became much easier for callers and the call center. The navigators can see which providers have availability, what they provide, and which insurances they work with. There are 400 providers and services the navigators make referrals to, Belcher said. Staff can walk through some case manager-like questions with the caller, like a preference for peer or group therapy.
For years before the coronavirus, individuals seeking help would be given a list of 30 or so providers and have to call each one until an appointment was made, LeRoy said.
“We can make access easier for everyone, and we are seeing people who used to not get help,” he said.
There has been a 50 percent increase in calls to 211, largely for food and shelter or access to needs like formula and diapers, during the pandemic, Belcher said. While the increase in calls is a strain on her 19-person staff, there has been a bit more time for the behavioral health navigators to ask more questions of those seeking mental health resources.
Yancey said this role reversal of providers sending information updates rather than navigators seeking it out has been instrumental in standing up the call agency as a single entry point.
“That may not seem like a big deal, but that’s huge,” she said. “The energy and time spent on following up and reaching out, it’s an ongoing headache.”
The 211 navigators will connect a caller to the provider, who will take the client on. Sometimes, the navigators will even call back to make sure they received the needed help, Belcher said.
After six months of data, Angie Treptow with Elevate Health, hopes that behavioral health providers will be able to have a clearer picture of the services needed and where the gaps are in the system.
She and Yancey said they hope to continue this single-point-of-entry for behavioral health past the pandemic.
“I believe this is a first step in identifying who is open and closed who can help in getting services,” Treptow said. “The next step is identifying gaps and building a better community.”
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 5:05 AM.
