For Natalie Velasquez, a counselor at a teen crisis center in Concord, just getting through the day can feel like a small miracle.
Velasquez leads therapy groups and does one-on-one sessions with patients, but is often busy responding to emergencies on the inpatient floor of a mental health hospital. One patient may be trying to harm themselves, while another may need help calming down a manic episode.
“We witness things that you see in movies, things that someone might call extreme or even unbearable to witness,” said Velasquez, 34.
Across the Bay Area, mental health workers are exhausted and reaching breaking point. In addition to working on the front lines of a national crisis, many are also struggling to make ends meet in one of the country’s toughest housing markets. Some are leaving the field altogether, after supporting a care system already strained during the pandemic.
“Counselors are definitely feeling extremely burnt out,” Velazquez said. “We are exhausted.”
Mental health providers say long-standing shortages of psychiatrists, social workers, drug counselors and other mental health and addictions professionals, who have seen a surge in demand in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, have led to a decline in this population. He said the situation has become even more serious due to the leak.
“The existing workforce is already pretty fragile and vulnerable,” said David Mineta, CEO of Momentum for Health, a Silicon Valley mental health nonprofit. “When you have a vacancy and you don’t have enough colleagues, it becomes really, really difficult.”
As many residents continue to grapple with the crisis, how the region responds to shortages could be crucial in confronting many of its most dire post-pandemic challenges. permanent effect Social isolation, economic anxiety, and sadness.
Research shows that children and young people experience Increased rates of anxiety and depression.death from overdose spiked.And thousands of people continue to suffer from severe mental illness. languishing on the streets across california.
“The pandemic was followed by a behavioral health tsunami, a crisis, where there was even more need,” said Elisa Koff Ginsborg, executive director of the Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Contractors Association.
However, there are still more in the Bay Area. Number of mental health workers per capita in most positions than across the state.Several government official Local health worker unions have questioned whether there really is a significant shortage, but experts say the available data is incomplete and does not fully reflect the impact of post-pandemic needs. It points out that there is no.
But county health agencies and local nonprofits like Momentum, which most frequently treat the region’s most vulnerable patients, face the greatest struggles in recruiting and retaining workers. Most people agree with what they are doing.
“We often hear anecdotes about people becoming burnt out, especially in what’s called safety net behavioral health,” said Janet Coffman, a health policy researcher at the University of California, San Francisco.
a UCSF research Last year, Coffman revealed that more than 70% of county behavioral health agencies in California were struggling to hire psychiatrists, clinical social workers, registered nurses and many other types of mental health workers. I made it..
Darren Tan, deputy director of the Santa Clara County Department of Behavioral Health Services, said in an email that the agency’s market assessment “indicates a small pool of potential workers and high burnout among current workers.” said.
a Separate report Coffman predicted in 2018 that demand for psychiatrists could outstrip supply by 50% if health care providers of all types fail to hire more workers over the next few years, before the pandemic caused a surge in demand. However, he predicted that the shortage of psychologists and doctors could become serious. Other therapists say he could reach 28%.
For Abode, a nonprofit that provides housing, mental health and addiction services to homeless people across the Bay Area, retaining a workforce is a constant challenge due to the region’s staggering cost of living.
“Housing affordability, food affordability, livability, and the country’s wage levels for this job all contribute to high rates of burnout,” said Brittney Kirkland, Abode’s senior director of health and wellness. It demoralizes people.” From the field faster than ever before. ”
In the Bay Area, the highest-paying mental health jobs, typically psychiatrists, can earn salaries in excess of $300,000. However, one study found that community health workers and health education professionals who work directly with low-income families in treatment programs and make up the majority of the mental health workforce earn as little as $55,000 to $65,000 a year. There is a possibility that you will only get a dollar amount. new report By the Silicon Valley Regional Institute, a nonprofit research group.
The report includes a survey of students who earned a degree in mental health and addiction care in Santa Clara County and found that students who plan to remain in the Bay Area after completing their program, primarily due to cost of living concerns. It turned out that only 50%.
To keep more mental health workers in the community, health care providers want to continue expanding state and local workforce development programs, particularly student scholarships and loan repayment plans.
Proposition 1, a $6.4 billion mental health bond narrowly passed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, includes funding to increase the mental health workforce. That’s on top of the $1.5 billion the state approved last year for various health workforce programs.
Rachel Massaro, director of research at the Silicon Valley Regional Institute, said there needs to be more emphasis on recruiting and training workers from diverse backgrounds that reflect the communities they serve. It could not only encourage more people to enter the field, but also help remove language and cultural barriers that make it difficult to reach many people in need of care. , Massaro said.
“There are huge benefits to building a sense of belonging,” she says.
