(Spirit Lake)– Dickinson county supervisors Tuesday were presented with the findings of a community needs health assessment. It’s conducted every three years, with the most recent assessment being completed in September of last year. Katy Burke of Dickinson County Public Health says they had more than 600 respondents, with most of them being residents of the county. She says three critical issues were identified…
“Awareness of behavioral health resources; access to dental care, specifically for the Medicaid population; and then finally affordable transportation. So three major areas. So we are not under any illusion that this will be resolved in three years, but it is an opportunity for us after hearing from the public, to move forward.”
Burke says the assessment further breaks down more specific needs when it comes to behavioral and mental health…
“The biggest obstacles that we saw are of course, shortage of providers, awareness of resources, not having enough specialized care for youth, substance abuse issues, self identification barriers so that stigma that’s still attached to mental health, and then provider turnover and burnout. And the limitations of telehealth and what they can do and then covid exacerbating the issues that were already there.”
To begin addressing those needs, Burke says they’ve formed the “Dickinson County Behavioral Health Coalition”…
“We are meeting on a quarterly basis and working a lot with Beth Will and our providers to build that relationship so each provider knows what the other is doing. And to really build more of a network that we’re not meeting just every three years. We’re having an ongoing conversation to have that structural change that we can build that real network to support people.”
She says the coalition has already developed some ideas they plan to pursue…
“Looking at ways to collaborate with existing community events to highlight mental health, to share providers, to do spotlights on that, and to have wellness events with families to really celebrate what wellness looks like; working with Lakeside Lab so a non-traditional mental health partner to talk about nature walks and it’s not always about prices it’s looking a different ways that we can support our youth, open up these conversations and really get people connected to the resources that they need.”
Burke says trying to increase the number of mental health service providers will also be a critical part of that. She says currently there is one provider for every 1,400 people in Dickinson county.
