By F. Mikel Carmon, via WyoFile.com
When Governor Mark Gordon visited Gillette last December for a town hall meeting on mental health, the room was packed and there was an air of optimism in the air: At last, it seemed government officials were starting to take seriously a long-term problem that has taken such a toll on our communities and that has never been addressed before.
An hour later, the meeting was over, and so was our hope, but the room was filled with anger.The first 20 minutes of the meeting were spent by the bureaucrats introducing themselves, and the local residents were given two minutes each to brainstorm, present their ideas, and come up with solutions.
“As a result, a grieving mother has little time to talk about her 12-year-old son who committed suicide. It’s revolting to limit a mother’s advocacy for suicide prevention in a state with the highest suicide rate in the nation. This is not how passionate people who are brave enough to share their family tragedy to prevent others from suffering the same pain should be treated.”
Watching the state of the state Legislature just a few months later only compounded this sense of disappointment: Wyoming lawmakers talk about mental health issues, but they don’t seem willing to actually do much about it, even as our neighbors, friends and family struggle with mental illness, substance abuse and suicide.
The 2024 budget debate has been marked by bickering, dysfunction and a focus on national issues that matter little to most hard-working Wyoming residents, with little progress made on the Governor’s top priorities.
It’s good that the Wyoming Legislature has funded Wyoming’s new suicide hotline, 988. Local call centers in Greybull and Casper have saved people’s lives, including many veterans, and thanks to stable funding from this year’s budget session, they will continue to do so.
But no one would pat themselves on the back for keeping emergency suicide hotlines from being shut down for lack of funding. It’s the least lawmakers can do, and it does nothing to address the underlying issues that lead people to want to kill themselves in the first place.
While the state government can’t solve the mental health crisis alone, there are clearly some things it can do to help, and several people who had the brief opportunity to speak at the governor’s town hall in Gillette called for one: expanding Medicaid.
Tens of thousands of Wyoming workers cannot access mental health care because they make too much to qualify for current Wyoming Medicaid but too little to get coverage through the health insurance marketplace.
These people fall into the “coverage gap” and lack adequate access to mental health care because they cannot afford it. Many of our neighbors who struggle with mental illness, health problems, and substance abuse have no access to help. If they had health insurance through expanded Medicaid, they could get the treatment they need.
Wyoming is home to 20 behavioral health centers that offer low-cost care. But these centers share a common problem: They lack staff trained to deal with serious mental health issues. Mental health professionals are hard to find in Wyoming, especially in rural areas, and the stress of the job makes it hard to retain them.
These centers need more resources to train and retain quality mental health professionals. Medicaid expansion will provide access to mental health care to people who previously could not afford it. Also, as behavioral health centers see more patients, they will have a revenue stream to hire and retain a well-trained workforce.
Wyoming lawmakers express concern about mental health, but lack the courage to implement real solutions. Their unwillingness to act is literally killing people.
Fixing our broken mental health system isn’t difficult, but it will take lawmakers and state officials willing to have honest conversations about the real underlying problems and solutions.
We cannot accept that our leaders have so little time for Wyoming residents when lives are at risk.
F. Michael Carmon is a Wyoming native who earned her Master’s in Counseling Psychology from the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley. With 32 years of experience as a professional counselor, she is passionate about suicide prevention. As a child, her family took trips into the Wyoming backcountry and she continues to herd mules to this day.
WyoFile is an independent, nonprofit news organization focused on people, places and policies in Wyoming.
