It’s time to address the Illinois mental health crisis

As students in Illinois and across the country settle in to their fall routines, families are approaching a tipping point in the mental health crisis — and leaders are working to respond.

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently called for an adolescent mental health warning label on social media sites. Further, he issued a new advisory calling parental stress a major public health issue. Social scientist Jonathan Haidt has written a new book “The Anxious Generation,” talking about the mental health crisis that has been near the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has also committed to addressing the growing mental health crisis by expanding access to behavioral health services in Illinois.

While mental health remains an issue that affects all 50 states, in Illinois alone, over 1.7 million adults are struggling with a mental health illness and over 145,000 Illinois adolescents are affected by depression. Moreover, a startling 61.8% of Illinoisans aged 12—17 with depression did not receive any care in the last year.

This is not a crisis without solutions. Compass Health Center, co-founded by Dr. Claudia Welke and myself, emerged from our experiences as Child and Adolescent and Adult Psychiatrists working on an inpatient child unit within a large hospital system. Our recent analysis for 2023 focuses on the treatment provided to predominantly Illinois-based patients.

The key finding is that intermediate mental health treatment can reduce depression and anxiety symptoms by 50% for adolescents and adults.

Illinois’ youth can benefit from immediate and personalized care through Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP) and Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP). These programs offer comprehensive, cost-effective care that bridges the gap between in-patient hospitalization and outpatient therapy, offering a tangible solution to unnecessary visits to the emergency room and costly inpatient hospitalizations for mental health crises.

According to our research, depressive symptoms in adolescent patients decreased from “moderate/severe” to “subclinical/mild” after completing 16 days of PHP, followed by 16 days of IOP. By ensuring Illinois residents have access to the high-quality PHP and IOP care they need, we can improve mental health outcomes in Illinois for all ages.

Improving access to comprehensive and specialized programs is a critical step in supporting Illinois students struggling with managing their mental health. This should be a top priority for Illinois policymakers, regulators, employers, and insurance providers.

Supporting immediate, specialized care programs for both children and adults grappling with a mental health crisis will significantly bolster our state’s overall well-being. Just as cancer is best addressed by oncologists, mental health patients require specialists for effective treatment. Each patient's struggles are unique and require a specialized treatment plan for effective results.

Therapeutic approaches can be tailored to meet the individual needs of patients, with a focus on achieving the best possible outcomes. Adaptable health care models embracing both on-site and virtual platforms offer flexibility and continuity of care and bridge gaps in the mental health care system. Improving access to these treatments keeps both Illinois patients and communities healthier.

Mental illness doesn’t just affect the person suffering. It impacts their families, caregivers, friends and the entire community around them. Engaging community, providers, health plans and policymakers in data-centric dialogues and fostering robust partnerships can significantly reshape mental health care strategies and further improve outcomes.

Bolstering specialized and comprehensive care programs is crucial to harness the expertise of professionals from diverse backgrounds and specialized fields, ensuring accessible assistance for Illinois residents seeking the mental health support they need. Illinois is in crisis, and we need to act now to ensure Illinois residents have access to immediate, specialized and evidence-based mental health care.

• Dr. David Schreiber, is the CEO and founder of Compass Health Center, an organization that provides immediate access to comprehensive mental health services, both in-person and virtually, to children, adolescents, young adults and adults in crisis.