NEW YORK -- As the pandemic wanes, experts advised it's important to recognize the impact of the fear, loss and isolation it caused on children's mental health.

Data from the Children's Hospital Association showed between April and October last year, hospitals saw a 24% increase in mental-health emergency visits by kids ages five to 11, and for ages 12 to 17, the increase was 31%.

But parents may not always recognize the symptoms of trauma and grief.

Dr. Shea Lott, lead clinician for the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Easterseals, pointed out in a webinar on "Helping Our Children Navigate Through Trauma," children experience grief differently than adults.

"For children, you typically will get a lot of physical symptoms, like headaches, stomachaches, and those kinds of things; not wanting to do things that they usually enjoy," Lott outlined.

New Yorkers can find resources for helping children and families cope with COVID-related stress and trauma through the New York State Office of Mental Health, online at nyprojecthope.org.

Dawn Khan, a parent of two teenagers in Manhattan, said she began to notice changes in her 15-year-old daughter's behavior and outlook last summer.

"She's definitely exhibited signs of depression," Khan observed. "Her interpersonal relationships have suffered; she's much more withdrawn than she used to be."

She added her daughter has been seeing a therapist, and with schools reopening, she is beginning to reengage socially and appears to be happier.

Vicki Jay, CEO of the National Alliance for Grieving Children, noted the upheaval of the pandemic has impacts that will last a lifetime, and it has affected everyone.

"We've all experienced loss and change, and disappointment and trauma, this year," Jay recounted. "And it's not going to be over with; there's not a switch to flip. It becomes a part of who we are, and it's what we take forward with us."

In a recent poll by the American Psychiatric Association, 48% of parents said the pandemic has contributed to mental-health problems for at least one of their children.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Budget cuts to the Wyoming Department of Health are causing reductions in mental-health and substance-abuse services, with bigger impacts projected after July 1.

Andi Summerville, executive director of the Wyoming Association of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers, said centers are losing $7.5 million in state contracts to serve people who don't have insurance or can't afford to pay.

The cuts come as centers are receiving a significant increase in crisis calls.

"We're still at that level presently today, where crisis calls are much higher than they've ever been," said Summerville. "In terms of timing, this certainly compounds an already difficult pandemic."

Many of the calls are from people who have never received mental-health services in the past.

Centers are laying off providers and staff, reducing hours, discontinuing programs, and will soon be forced to reduce the number of available residential beds for mental health and substance abuse.

Summerville said she understands the current fiscal constraints facing lawmakers, but she said she believes the cuts will increase costs to taxpayers over the long term.

If centers aren't able to keep doors open, hospital emergency rooms and other agencies will absorb much higher costs when people are not able to access basic mental-health and substance-abuse care.

"Early services keep them in their family, can help keep them in their community," said Summerville. "When they can't access those services, and their condition continues to worsen, then police departments get more phone calls for emergencies that are driven by mental-health crises. They show up in ERs."

She said centers are obligated to see every patient that shows up, but worries that soon there may not be a provider left on staff to greet them.

Summerville and other advocates are urging lawmakers to add staff in order to tap federal grants the state is currently leaving on the table, expand Medicaid, and other stop-gap measures to help mitigate the impact on Wyoming residents in need of mental and substance-abuse care.




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AUGUSTA, Maine -- With about three weeks left in the legislative session, mental-health advocates want lawmakers to increase the funding for essential MaineCare services in order to attract more badly needed staff.

Experts contended long waiting lists often mean families can't get counseling and end up in crisis.

Amy Cohan, vice president of outpatient and community services for Spurwink Services and a licensed clinical social worker, said at times there have been as many as 500 families waiting for in-home counseling, especially people who live away from the I-95 corridor.

"Insufficient rates make it really impossible for providers to travel to families' homes, particularly in rural parts of the state, in a financially sustainable way," Cohan explained.

Cohan noted during the pandemic, calls to hotlines, rates of anxiety and depression, suicidal thinking and suicides all rose sharply. In addition, opioid overdoses increased to record levels, reversing progress made in recent years.

Multiple bills, including Legislative Document 432 and Legislative Document 1173, which are intended to address the situation, are waiting to get a vote. Lawmakers need to finalize the budget before the session ends on June 16.

Opponents objected to the cost of raising providers' pay, but supporters countered it's crucial in order to attract more people to the social-services profession.

Rep. Colleen Madigan, D-Waterville, co-sponsored several bills to help alleviate some pressure.

"There needs to be more money put into put state now so that kids can stay at home," Madigan asserted. "They can be treated in their communities, and they can get the behavioral health care they need before they wind up in an emergency room or needing inpatient hospitalization or residential care."

Madigan pointed out many programs have been forced to cut services for lack of staff, leaving families no option but to send their children out of state to find a residential placement.

David McCluskey, executive director of Community Care, a nonprofit that treats people with mental illness, said the staff shortages translate into a broken system that causes real suffering for families.

"So there's people who are waiting to leave psychiatric hospitals because there's no place for them to step down to," McCluskey stressed. "And then there's also people waiting to get into hospitals. And so the system is sort of frozen."

SEATTLE -- May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and as life returns to normal, many people are coming down from more than a year of anxiety.

A Census Bureau survey found symptoms of anxiety or depression had increased among adults from 11% in 2019 to 41% in 2021.

Dr. Mabel Bongmba, adult psychiatrist at Kaiser Permanente in the Greater Seattle area, said a return to pre-pandemic life also brings new stressors, such as returning to the office or school. She cautioned people should have measured expectations.

"Know that other folks are in the same boat," Bongmba urged. "A lot of us are feeling some stress and anxiety with the prospect of yet more changes, and feeling a little stress around change is a pretty normal thing under any circumstance, pandemic or no pandemic."

Bongmba pointed out behavioral health and mindfulness apps such as Calm and myStrength can help people with self-care if they're feeling anxious.

She noted some people are experiencing more extreme feelings, such as grieving the loss of loved ones. She advised people not to keep it to themselves and speak up to a health professional.

"So many of us are, for the first time, connecting with therapists and other mental-health specialists during this time," Bongmba observed. "And if you're having really difficult feelings or feeling overwhelmed by life, you don't have to go through that by yourself."

For many, getting back to life before the pandemic will take some easing in. Bongmba hopes the pandemic has taught us to be patient with other people's journeys, adding if some aren't yet comfortable shedding their masks even though others are, that's OK.

"I think we can respect each other for making the best decision possible for our individual situations," Bongmba advised. "And that's something we should maintain for ourselves, in addition to having that expectation of others as well."

Gov. Jay Inslee has set June 30 as the target reopening date for Washington state.