Nevada has consistently ranked at the bottom of mental health metrics conducted on a yearly basis since 2015, and local political, business and community leaders need to take action, local nonprofit news source the Nevada Current reported May 18.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has declared the explosion of mental health challenges among children and adolescents related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the struggle for racial justice a national emergency. However, it is important to note that COVID-19 did not create a mental health crisis in Nevada. It made a dire situation even worse, the Nevada Current reported.
A recent report from Brookings Mountain West and the Lincy Institute showed that Nevada ranked last among states and the District of Columbia in providing mental health professionals and services for adults and children. A second report by the organizations said the state has one school psychologist available for every 1,866 students, whereas the recommended ratio is 500 to 1.
Nevada currently has a ratio of one mental health professional for every 460 residents.
"Nevada would need to double the number of psychologists and psychiatrists to be considered average by national standards," wrote April Corbin Girnus, a Nevada Current reporter, in 2021. "Other specialties are in even lower supply: Nevada would need to quadruple the number of clinical professional counselors to meet the national average. The national average is 45.4 clinical professional counselors per 100,000 residents. Nevada has 10.3 per 100,000."
The failure to address these issues places increased burdens on overpopulated hospitals, schools, prisons and mental health facilities and puts those who need help at risk.
Some steps taken to address these issues include a $761,000 program created by an area school district to "monitor data like absences, behavior, and academic changes that may be a red flag," the Las Vegas Review Journal reported in 2020.
The Nevada Legislature approved $660,000 in funding toward the Children's Mobile Crisis Response Team, and a U.S. senator from Nevada co-sponsored the federal Behavioral Health Crisis Services Expansion Act that proposes to expand mental health services in Nevada and nationally.
In February, Nevada Sen. Jackie Rosen introduced the national Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Act in Congress, which aims to fund assistance for mental health in K-12 school districts to stem the rise in youth suicides.
In March, the Nevada System of Higher Education received $2.6 million in federal funds to support a systemwide mental health needs assessment.
According to the Nevada Current, "funding and transparency," "building a mental health workforce," and "cooperation between federal, state, county, and local governments" are key to combating the ongoing crisis.
The Current stressed that state's regional economic development agencies should include mental health professionals among their priorities in workforce development plans to ensure that the mental health crisis in Nevada is remedied as soon as possible.