Panel seeks to connect mental health with policy
By Missouri LSEN Staff
Where you live is sometimes a barrier to getting mental healthcare in Missouri. That premise is one focus of a virtual roundtable hosted by the Local Science Engagement Network at 3 p.m. Friday, May 28.
LSEN Coordinator Dan English says the May 28 event will be the “biggest yet” for the organization’s roundtable series. The panel will also discuss the impact of policy on mental healthcare. For more details and to register, click here. LSEN is an outreach of the Missouri Science & Technology (MOST) Policy Initiative.
Roundtable panelists include Sen. Greg Razer, D-Kansas City; Rep. Lisa Thomas, R-Lake Ozark; Xavier Ransome, associate data analyst at the non-profit Government Employees Health Association; and Patricia Alafaireet, PhD, an assistant teaching professor of health management and informatics at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine.
English will act as moderator and co-hosts are Rosie Dutton and Eleni Galata Bickell. Dutton holds a Master of Research in Bioimaging Science and a Master of Science in Cognitive Neuroscience from Imperial College of London and Durham University. Dutton is also a Ph.D. candidate at Washington University in St. Louis. Bickell is completing her PhD in agriculture and applied economics and serves as the MOST policy fellow for agriculture, natural resources, and economics.
Alafaireet is involved in the formulation of national policy, serving as chair of the Rural Health Community of Practice, a national group that examines solutions to rural health issues. She also directs the Missouri Health Technology Assistance Center and maintains an active consulting practice.
Because one in four persons needing mental health services does not receive care, a better understanding of the set of circumstances leading to recidivism could contribute to clinicians’ ability to serve more individuals.
Ransome was the MOST Policy Initiative featured scientist on Feb. 5.
Overall, the goal of his research is to find factors that may put a patient at a higher risk for returning to the hospital and give them the resources and assistance they need the first time to reduce the likelihood of a return visit.
Dutton highlighted Ransome’s research that focuses on the impact of resource allocation in Missouri, looking specifically at mental health inpatient recidivism (return to care). It’s also a topic that Alafaireet has studied and consulted on extensively. Among the outcomes and perhaps unintended consequences of mental health inpatients needing to return to care in 30 or 60 days after discharge is that many of those individuals either do not receive care or they are put in jail.
Lack of insurance, being underinsured, and homelessness are among the factors with policy implications for access to mental health services.
Bickell’s background and education in agriculture and applied economics led her to observe a high toll of mental health issues on family farms where “lack of access to care was critical.”
“If you’re a farmer, by nature it is stressful,” Bickell says. Stress can be healthy as a normal part of life and can “push you to achieve.” Chronic stress is different in that it interferes with daily life, making it difficult to concentrate, focus, rest, and make decisions, factors that can adversely affect health and safety in a farm setting.
“Farmers are the most important asset in the food chain,” she adds. “If I have a meal today, it depends on the well-being of agriculture producers and their families.”
The roundtable aims to raise awareness of rural, farm, and overall access to mental healthcare, and to clearly communicate about the resources that are available. Equally important is whether resources are affordable.
Though mental health needs in rural areas are especially challenging, even more urban and metro areas of the state have provider shortages.
“One of our main jobs at LSEN is to connect policymakers with the scientists doing the research and work, and build relationships in the state,” English explains. “That’s the whole point of this — so they can work together in the future. The policymakers care deeply about these issues and so do the researchers. Hopefully, we can get them together.”
