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Lancaster Osteopathic Health Foundation provides a solution for county's mental health care crisis

Intelligencer Journal - 10/2/2021

Tiana Kelly is part of the living proof that a program designed to fill the need for mental health services is working.

The newly licensed professional counselor and outpatient therapist is one of a total of seven students expected to complete the Lancaster Clinical Supervision Collaborative program this fall or spring. The Collaborative provides funding to mental health agencies. In turn, those agencies and their supervisors offer the clinical hours the students must complete to become licensed. By participating in the program, students agree to practice in Lancaster County for a set term once they graduate.

Kelly said she was able to secure employment in part because of her involvement in the program and the various networking and educational opportunities it offered.

“The training and supervision offered to me as a fellow served to strengthen my clinical skills and, in turn, improve the quality of services I provide to members of our community,” she said. “I believe that improving health outcomes for Lancaster’s residents is a collaborative, community effort, and the Lancaster Osteopathic Health Foundation program is one of many strategies helping us to advance health.”

LOHF has completed the first of the three-year LCSC program aimed at the supply and demand crisis for mental health care in the county.

Thanks in part to the $50,000 per year grant from The Steinman Foundation that LOHF matches, the LCSC program provides funding for mental health agencies that help LCSC fellows - who are master’s degree graduates in social work and psychology - receive the clinical supervision hours that are needed for them to become licensed. The Steinman Foundation is a local, independent family foundation funded by the companies that make up Steinman Communications; those companies include LNP Media Group, publisher of LNP|LancasterOnline.

The LCSC program requires participants to stay in the county for at least the amount of time that they receive support from the program. This is a key aspect of the program because the demand for mental health services is greater than the supply of mental health professionals.

According to the County Health Rankings compiled by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, more than one in six of the Lancaster County residents - or nearly 98,000 people - have a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional condition. Many more are likely undiagnosed.

The county ranks 29th among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties in ratio of mental health providers per population, with a ratio of 896 people for every mental health professional, according to the County Health Rankings.

According to the Lancaster County Community Health Needs Assessment, understaffed agencies, labor shortages and high co-pays are three reasons that prevent many children from receiving the mental health services they may need.

Anna Kennedy, executive director of LOHF, said local mental health providers strained to meet needs even before the pandemic. According to LOHF data, there’s been almost a 70% increase in demand for mental health care in the county due to the pandemic.

“We’re seeing huge increases in anxiety and depression amongst children and teens, not only in Lancaster County but all over,” said Kennedy. This is coupled with fewer students graduating into the mental health professions.

“Not as many students are choosing to go into clinical practice and when they find out there’s this long and arduous process for them to get their clinical hours it can be discouraging.” Kennedy said. “Ultimately we want to make that pathway so much easier for them.”

To offset some of the challenges in the mental health field, the LCSC program, does check-ins with the agencies involved in the program and provides monthly cohort meetings that cover topics from legal requirements of conducting teletherapy to inclusion and cultural competency.

In exchange for providing funding for agencies, LCSC requires participants to participate in monthly education training, which is organized with Millersville University for social work credits, and agree to practice in the county for a term that matches the period that they received help. Mental health professionals who graduate from the program also must primarily serve children and adolescents.

Seven fellows have earned their clinical supervision hours due to the LCSC program and are now eligible to sit for their licensing boards and take their licensing exams, which is the final step before becoming a practitioner.

The first fellows out of the LCSC program will graduate this fall or spring, Kennedy said. Through the LCSC program, they hope to help produce 30 newly licensed mental health providers in the county by the end of 2022.

“If we can just meet the demand for hiring that we currently have, that would be phenomenal,” said Kennedy. "We’re not there yet. The demand is still greatly outpacing the capacity or the supply that we’re able to add, but we’re definitely making some strides.”

The LCSC program opens in the spring for new applicants. To apply, visit lohf.org/lcsc. Graduates in social work and psychology looking for supervision can reach out to info@lohf.org. To donate to LOHF and its program visit lohf.org/donate.

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Crédito: ANIYA THOMAS | Staff Writer