MANKATO — Although mental health care provider shortages persist in rural areas, a panel discussion Thursday focused on what parents can do for their children using resources at hand.
The Center for Rural Policy and Development and Citizens League partnered on the virtual event, part of an ongoing Interconnected series. A newly released report on youth mental health coincided with the roundtable.
The report advised parents to educate themselves on mental health, consult with a primary care physician and seek out any school-linked mental health services in their area.
Most families in rural areas have access to these resources, the report concludes. Taking advantage of all three can help with early interventions, which researcher Marnie Werner said makes a big difference.
“The earlier they can get on it the better,” said Werner, vice president of research at the Center for Rural Policy and Development. “Mental health issues and illnesses only escalate the longer they’re untreated.”
By educating themselves on mental health, parents are better able to recognize a child’s needs. The first resource the report states parents should know about is the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, available at no cost for anyone needing more information on mental health services.
A Brown County Human Services resource also earned recognition in the report. It has a webpage listing signs and symptoms, information on diagnostic assessments and who parents should call with their concerns.
Primary care physicians, meanwhile, can be seen as a first step toward accessing mental health care. Data from the Minnesota Department of Health showed 89% of rural physicians are providing some form of mental health services, according to the report.
In some cases, including at south-central Minnesota health care providers, behavioral health is integrated into primary care clinic settings. This concept lessens wait times for screenings, with an ideal scenario being an appointment in primary care turned into a direct handoff to a behavioral health provider.
On the school side, more districts now either have on-site mental health services or navigators who can connect families to local providers. Mankato Area Public Schools began housing a Youth Mental Health Navigator program, convened by the Greater Mankato Area United Way, during the COVID-19 pandemic. United Way then worked with the South Central Service Cooperative to serve more districts in the surrounding area.
These school programs prove helpful to families in a few ways, Werner said. Schools are a familiar and trusted place for many families, they don’t require any extra travel time to access, and parents don’t need to take time off from work to bring children to them.
After Werner presented on the report’s findings, panelists identified anxiety and depression rates as two of the most common issues faced by youth in Minnesota. Rates were rising before the COVID-19 pandemic, the report noted, but that time marked by isolation and loneliness aggravated the issues.
A potential link between social media usage and declining mental health should lead parents to give thoughtful consideration to how much access children have, panelists said.
There isn’t a specific age for when having a smartphone is appropriate, said panelist Sara Gonzalez Rodriguez, a pediatric psychologist at Children’s Minnesota. Parents just need to be mindful of the quantity and quality of use once a child does have it.
Kids can feel left out if they don’t have a smartphone, said Feven Tesfaye, a junior at Burnsville High School who is a representative on the Minnesota Youth Council. She recommended parents discuss appropriate usage with their child from the start, along with how to responsibly navigate social media.
Sue Abderholden, executive director at National Alliance on Mental Illness-Minnesota, brought up both downsides and upsides of social media usage for youth. Smartphones mean bullying can follow a child home from school, she said, but for LGBTQ youth, social media serves as a place to connect with others and feel part of a community they often don’t have in rural Minnesota.
Policies restricting cellphones in schools drew praise from the panel. Wade McKittrick, superintendent of Montevideo Public Schools, brought up how distracting notifications became for students.
For the learning process, having easily accessible answers — whether from an online search or a parent — on a device in your pocket also doesn’t always help.
“When kids are trying to learn how to navigate life, adversity, experiences, having a parent immediately accessible to them at all times to answer the question and give the solution, it eliminates the space for kids to wrestle that situation themselves,” McKittrick said.
Tesfaye expressed hope that less cellphone usage in schools will lead to better communication skills. These interpersonal skills took a hit during the pandemic.
Youth mental health will continue to be a research focus in the coming years, said Julie Tesch, president and CEO of the Center for Rural Policy and Development.