If someone in your own home – someone you love – experienced a mental health crisis right now, who would you call? You might say the police, except the police are law enforcement, and your loved one probably isn’t breaking any laws. A friend who works in the mental health field? Maybe, if you have one, and if they are home and are close by. But that’s a lot of unknowns.
For many people – even those who don’t know it – their limiting factor to receiving good mental health care in Wichita is a lack of access. Not because the resources aren’t available. Not because help isn’t close by. Not even because it costs too much. The access that played a part in Kansas being ranked last in the nation in mental health care is often a question of friends and family who are willing to help but have no idea what to do when the opportunity presents itself.
For many years, law enforcement agencies were the de facto mental health responders. This forced them to enact broad programs and policies across tens of thousands of municipalities around the United States for which they were not trained, equipped, staffed, or properly resourced. Today, there are both national and local resources available right here in Wichita, including warm lines, 24-hr crisis lines, text, chat, and stabilization services at many health facilities, not to mention the National Crisis phone number of 988, which will be as ubiquitous to your children as 911 is to you. The lack of access is no longer a geographic or financial issue in Wichita. It’s often educational or cultural in nature, which means that the hurdle can be jumped with increases in awareness and a willingness by everyone to think about the needs that may arise in our own lives before the moment that we need them.
I hope that you will be that friend. The friend that asks the hard question, that pushes comfort zones, but most importantly, that knows who to call when someone needs your help. With your involvement, Kansas can eliminate that access barrier and be a stronger community for all of us.
