[Noozhawk’s note: First in a series sponsored by the Hutton Parker Foundation.]
Long before the COVID-19 pandemic began, Santa Barbara County was experiencing a community-wide health crisis. Mental health services have been fragmented, and the pandemic only exacerbated the problem.
Enter the consortium-building nonprofit YouthWell, which strives to end the stigma and find solutions by networking dozens of service providers, school districts, law enforcement and the medical community to address mental health efforts with a focus on ages 10-25.
“‘It’s OK to not be OK,’ ‘it’s OK to ask for help,’ and ‘you are not alone’ are the messages we want to send to youth and families,” Rachael Steidl, YouthWell’s founder and executive director, told Noozhawk.
“We can’t encourage people to ask for help if we don’t have anywhere to send them, but issues don’t go away because there are no services. They still need support.”
In response, she said, YouthWell launched an online youth and family mental health and wellness directory in January that now lists more than 95 supportive organizations.
“The Collaborative is identifying the gaps in the system and is working together to fill them so we have more options available,” Steidl said.
YouthWell resources have expanded to include a robust online Community Calendar of health and wellness workshops, Mental Health First Aid training, support groups and other events related to mental health.
YouthWell.org also provides tips to navigating resources, links to helpful books and articles, recordings of wellness workshops, and mental wellness handouts.
Then there’s the Compassion Project, an opportunity for community members to lend a compassionate hand to a family or individual struggling with a mental health challenge.
“YouthWell is about looking not just at what’s working, but also looking at what’s not working in our community, listening to constructive criticism about existing services, finding solutions and filling unmet needs as a collaborative,” Steidl explained.
The statistics are sobering.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 50 percent of Americans will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder at some point in their lifetime. One in five Americans experiences mental illness in any given year. One in five children at some point during their lifetimes has already experienced a “seriously debilitating mental illness.” And one in 25 Americans lives with serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression.
“Sometimes the solutions are simple to fix and don’t require a lot of funding, such as expanding mental health education,” Steidl said. “What is important is that we are talking to youth and parents to better understand the challenges they are experiencing.”
High on the list: bringing awareness to the mental health and wellness services available in Santa Barbara County.
“There’s been this assumption that those with the ability to pay have more access to resources,” Steidl said. “That has not been the case. We need to ensure all youth have access when they need it and that we are providing warm handoffs to reduce the stress on families.
“If someone is brave enough to ask for help, we need to provide support. Sometimes that support is simply showing compassion by listening, which any of us can do.”
In previous years, many families have commuted to other areas to find necessary care, which is costly and adds more stress. This is slowly starting to change with early intervention efforts increasing.
“Mental illness does not discriminate,” Steidl said. “There’s no one group that is better off than another. We can’t assume that it is easier for some to get services.
“When it comes to mental health, everyone is navigating different challenges — whether its waitlists for services, overcoming stigma, financial limitations, transportation, or even lack of understanding.”
Steidl said the obstacles are formidable.
“It is scary for both youth and parents when they are struggling with a mental health challenge,” she said. “There is still so much stigma that causes feelings of shame.”
Since its founding in 2016, the YouthWell Partner Collaborative has met to build connections between community stakeholders, explore the challenging issues surrounding youth mental health in Santa Barbara County, and identify the gaps in available services.
Now, nearly 50 partnering agencies continue to meet quarterly, including schools, community-based organizations, providers, health care facilities and professionsals, law enforcement, faith communities, caregivers and students.
“Our community is amazing, but often our resources go toward crisis and less is focused on early intervention,” Steidl said. “I have spoken to many parents and students who have tried asking for help only to be told that their situation is not that serious and that there are others in greater need.”
According to the Mental Health Services Oversight & Accountability Commission, strategies that advance prevention and early intervention have the potential to reduce negative mental health outcomes, reduce disparities and improve the collective wellness of communities.
YouthWell’s Behavioral Health Linkages Team convenes monthly to address the need for closing the loop when referrals are made in order to ensure that youth are able to access the services they need in a timely manner.
The more than two dozen agencies involved span the county and include the Santa Maria-Bonita School District, Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics, Transitions-Mental Health Association and the SAFTY Hotline.
“I really see Rachel as this incredible leader in our community for really looking systematically at mental health and wellness for our community and for developing this incredible 48-agency partnering team,” said Becky Bean, student program adviser and social worker at Santa Barbara City College.
“We talk about progressive, proactive, interactive solutions to make sure our youth and families can gain access and support for their mental health.”
Bean runs The Well at Santa Barbara City College. Since its January 2019 launch, the wellness center has offered preventative health and wellness services, including workshops, support groups and special events.
“Being part of this amazing YouthWell partner collaborative feels like a mental health and wellness allyship,” Bean exclaimed.
The CDC states that mental health and physical health “are equally important components of physical health” and cites ties between depression and increased risk for long-lasting conditions like diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
Long-term health conditions, in their own turn, can also increase the risk for mental illness.
Mental health includes emotional, psychological and social well-being. It affects how people think, feel and act; how they handle stress and relate to others; and how they make healthy — or unhealthy — choices.
The CDC reports that a person can experience poor mental health and not be diagnosed with a mental illness. Likewise, a person diagnosed with a mental illness can experience periods of physical, mental and social well being.
These are the messages YouthWell is trying to impart beginning at the earliest ages and stages of life.
“It’s OK to have feelings, to be sad, to be stressed, to be excited, and to express those feelings,” Steidl said. “Developing tools early on to address those feelings, to understand how to deal with those times in healthy ways is key to preventing mental health crises further down the road.”
Click here for more information about YouthWell, or to partner, utilize the resource directory, donate or attend the wellness workshops. Click here to subscribe to the YouthWell newsletter for updates about mental health in Santa Barbara County. Click here to make an online donation.
— Noozhawk contributing writer Jennifer Best can be reached at news@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.