There might be no single issue in the United States that affects more areas than mental health problems.
They can be caused by physical health issues, such as chronic pain or a dire diagnosis. But they also can exacerbate those issues as depression or anxiety can delay treatment or interfere with taking medication as prescribed. They might be a side effect of substance abuse, or someone could be self-medicating to ease mental health symptoms.
Mental health issues could cause behavioral issues in school. They might lead to increased dropout rates, which can impact not only the student but also the school or the school district. Colleges are struggling to provide mental health support for students, and dropping out of higher education can mean hefty loan bills that don’t go away.
Your mental health can impact your employment. That can affect your family. It can lead to crime. It can threaten public safety. It can increase homelessness. It can lead to death in multiple ways, not the least of which is suicide.
And this is a very short and grossly simplified list. It is complicated by a deficit of available mental health care.
About 40% of Westmoreland County residents live with some kind of mental health diagnosis. Only half are treated, often because of lack of access.
The county is working to address that by increasing the number of mobile crisis response teams through partnership with Westmoreland Community Action.
In addition to the team that already works out of Greensburg, additional teams will work out of Derry, Hempfield, Scottdale and Monessen. The goal is to be able to respond to a crisis in any corner of the county within 20 minutes.
“That’s a response time to help save lives,” Westmoreland Community Action CEO Mandy Zalich said.
The county and the nonprofit are doing good work by acknowledging an important issue and growing their response.
The ability to do so depends on government investment. It began with $750,000 from federal pandemic funds and continues with more than $1 million from the state.
“We know there’s a major (mental health) crisis in our county as well as across the whole country. We’re actually trying to do something instead of just talking about it,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said.
That’s exactly what needs to be done — because addressing mental health addresses a world of other problems.