Over a million Georgians live with a mental health condition, and in the past year, over a thousand Georgians have died by suicide. The emergency mental health care system in Georgia is designed to help those in crisis. WUGA’s Emma Auer set out to discover how well this system works—and how advocates say it can be reformed.
Lauren McNeese is a native of Tennessee, where she lives with several mental health diagnoses. She’ll be the first to tell you, however, that her mental health conditions do not define her.
“I am 21 years old, I am currently working in Chattanooga at a senior living facility, where I have discovered my passion for working with the elderly
population. And I just changed my major today from English to nursing,” she says.
While receiving residential mental health treatment in the Atlanta-area last year, she was transferred to a behavioral health hospital in Northeast Georgia, where she became familiar with the state’s emergency mental health care system.
“I’m going to be honest with you, I think I left with more trauma than I came in with, and at the end of the day that facility kept me alive,” she explains.
Several months later, she’s now “in recovery” from her diagnoses. But what does recovery mean to her?
“Recovery is nonlinear, and recovery is hard. Recovery is a path to hope and healing and it is only achieved through hard work and perseverance,” Mcneese says.
According to McNeese, then, recovery is a winding path. A kind of path that for many Georgians can be bewildering and inaccessible:
“Part of the problem that we have here in Georgia is that there isn’t a very clear path.”
That’s Kim Jones, the Executive Director of the Georgia branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI. She states that the path to recovery for many Georgians begins in emergency rooms, which are often not equipped to handle those in psychiatric distress. That’s important, because approximately one out of seven emergency department visits is mental health-related.
“When they go in the emergency rooms, what we find is that emergency departments are not set up to handle mental health crises. They often don’t have the proper doctors on staff, nor do they have the proper facilities,” Jones explains.
NAMI Georgia advocates for the implementation of so-called EmPATH Units as complements to emergency rooms. EmPATH stands for Emergency Psychiatry Assessment, Treatment and Healing.
“So EmPATH units are a physical environment that are located in emergency departments that are designed for acute patients to receive assessments and evaluations in the least restrictive setting.”
Recent studies show promising results.
“The inpatient psychiatric admissions dropped from 50% of patients in the psych ED to 27% of patients when it was an EmPATH units. Almost half of the patients were diverted from inpatient psychiatric,” Jones says.
That decrease in inpatient admissions is crucial to lowering the burden on behavioral health hospitals.
“Part of the problem that we have now is the long waiting of people to get into facilities. So there’s a problem which the emergency rooms call boarding, and that’s where they are having to keep a patient in the emergency room sometimes on a gurney in the middle of the hall or sometimes in a room that is not appropriately designed for somebody in a mental health crisis,” Jones explains.
Lauren McNeese says based on her experience, it’s clear why EmPATH units would be helpful.
“Sometimes all you need is a licensed professional to walk you through, ‘Ok, you’re in this distress, what is something you can do to cope, what is something you can do to self soothe?’
“You don’t always need the hospital. If you need the hospital you need the hospital, and you should by all means go stay at a hospital. And, I feel like there are many times that I have been admitted when I did not need it,” McNeese elaborates.
EmPATH units operate in several states around the country. Jones says that with public advocacy, they could come to Georgia.
“It’s going to take Georgians to call and let their legislators know that mental health is important to them, and that these EmPATH units will make a difference, and that they want these EmPATH units within their own communities. What we are asking for is a public-private grant program, similar to South Carolina’s. These EmPATH units would be done in partnership with a local hospital and the grant would be for 3 million dollars, it’s what they did in South Carolina, which is what we’re supporting. We’re 48th in all the states for access to care. I cannot think of a better time for Georgia legislators to act,” Jones says.
NAMI Georgia advocates for EmPATH units to be implemented throughout the state, including freestanding units in rural areas where hospitals are less accessible.
If you or a loved one is struggling with thoughts of suicide or in crisis, help is available. Dial or text 988 to be connected to mental health professionals.
