We’re Failing Adolescents And Families Coping With Behavioral Health Issues

During my twenty-five years as president and CEO of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF), I have learned how to help people navigate the health care system. But I have struck out miserably when it comes to helping people facing behavioral health issues. I’ve had the pleasure of watching many talented staff members start and raise families of their own. One employee of the foundation, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—let’s call her Amy—is a doting single parent to Joe, a towering teenager with a wry sense of humor and dyed, technicolor hair. Images of Joe—from football games, camping trips, and long-ago school picture days—line Amy’s desk. Phone check-ins between mother and son, who is now age sixteen, are a lunchtime staple. Last fall, however, Amy became concerned about Joe. He distanced himself from friends and family, quit his part-time job, and started skipping school. One day, Amy came home and found that Joe had spent two hours breaking into a gun safe and, after contemplating suicide, put a weapon on the floor and returned to his room. Amy took Joe to a local psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents, where he was admitted for a week and discharged with a care plan, a psychiatrist and therapist, and medications for depression and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He returned to school. He seemed OK. On a Sunday in mid-March, two of Joe’s friends died—one in a motocross accident, the other in a shooting. He was inconsolable....
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Featured GrantWatch Quality Access adolescents Behavioral Health behavioral service needs Effectiveness Health Philanthropy Health Promotion and Disease PreventionGW Mental Health Source Type: blogs