Virginia keeps needing more people who work in mental health.
One thing that makes us feel the lack the most is when we have foster kids who need therapy, said Rose Teague, a social worker at UMFS in Richmond. “That could mean intensive counseling at home, outpatient therapy, or a psychological evaluation.” None of those things can be done without a mental health expert, and there are not enough of them.
Teague says that the kids she works with have been through a lot of bad things, but most of the time, it takes more than six months for them to see a therapist after she tries to get them one.
Teague said, “Kids who don’t get the help they need often have behaviors that get worse over time.”
The CDC says that the mental health problem in Virginia is pretty big. About one-third of Virginians said they had more than one bad mental health day in the past two weeks. At the moment, the whole state is thought to have a lack of mental health professionals.
These gaps are being worked on by Deborah Oswalt, who is the Executive Director of The Virginia Health Care Foundation.
There are two programs at the foundation that can help people get their jobs off the ground. Oswalt says that the Boost 200 program pays for the supervision that social workers, counselors, and marriage and family therapists who have earned a master’s degree need in order to get their licenses. The Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner grant program also gives full scholarships.
“Everyone needs to work together. “Everyone needs to do their part to find a solution,” Oswalt said.
