Obstacles to Accessing Mental Health Services
...and hopefully, a few suggestions to improve the situation.
1. Different Tiers and Titles
Psychiatrist, Psychologist, Psychotherapist, Counsellor, Social Worker. These are actually very different jobs, but for the layperson, it might not be clear which will suit your needs. A flow chart or spectrum could be helpful to someone navigating professional mental health services for the first time.
2. Money
Therapy can be expensive, but many professionals offer a "sliding scale" to those in need according to economic circumstances. This isn't widely known and it's sometimes a matter of asking for the sliding scale - which can be tough to do if you're proud (never mind anxious, depressed, etc.).
3. Time
Most therapy sessions are at least 60 minutes. There are "meet and greet" sessions that are more like 15 minutes that give clients an opportunity to figure out what therapist is right for them, but I think offering sessions of 20 minutes (or perhaps even less) would let people get more frequent sessions into their schedules. It might also help on the financial front (see #2).
4. Technology
With virtual therapy, not having a resource nearby is less of an obstacle, but just because it's available doesn't make it accessible. If you've ever had a problem with a video call in your working or personal life, imagine how much more difficult it would be if you were debilitated with a mental illness. Having both a computer and Internet connection that works well enough to handle video conferencing is not a universal privilege either. Therapy clinics will often use 3rd party tools that meet their specifications for confidentiality or security, but they will lack the ubiquity and user-friendliness of the more common solutions. A common standard that works on all platforms (including mobile ones like iOS and Android) would be good here.
5. Stigma
Discussions about mental health and mainstream acceptance of the wider need for mental health services have helped reduce stigma, but it's not exactly uniform, is it? If I tell you about a teenager with anxiety, you'll be sympathetic, but an addict or abuser? Not so much, even if their problems stem from a cycle of trauma and abuse that they suffered themselves. There are behaviours we will never condone, but the more we can see them as symptoms of disease and focus on treating those diseases, the further ahead our society will become.
6. Expectations
People give up on therapy because we want quick results - weeks to fix problems that have been years in the making. If we see our mental health as being on a spectrum rather than a black or white quantity, we can focus on the journey of improvement and stick with it.
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