Jenna,
Great to hear from you. Please pass along my best to Toshi and Talia. I am saddened but not surprised to hear about this crisis. I agree that you idea has great potential value. However, the city government is probably not the best equipped entity to take on such a project. We simply do not have the infrastructure or staff to do such a thing. The most likely entity locally would probably be the Alachua County Health Department, but UF Health may also have an interest (although that bureaucracy is a different challenge altogether). There is also a great physician named Lisa Chacko who does some amazing work at the Eastside Clinic in community health, and has been working with the city for some time on other projects. I will ask our GFR contact who has been working with Dr. Chacko to connect the two of you and see if there is an interest on her part.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Lauren
________________________________________
From: Jenna Nishida [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2018 11:47 AM
To: Poe, Lauren B
Subject: therapy referrals in Gainesville
Dear Mayor Poe,
I'm Jenna, a old friend of your mom's from choir. You may remember my daughter Talia. Your mom used to take care of her off and one while I did charity work before your own children were born. She posed with a group in one of your mayoral photo shoots years ago.
I'm writing with a question. I was recently talking to a therapist who has just been deluged by new referrals in recent months. It seems that the traumas and tragedies of our current world, the shootings and natural disasters, the news, the political climate, has had a huge effect on the mental health of everyday people. The number of referrals has gone up ten-fold.
The therapist I talked to has tried to take in as many new patients as possible--probably more than is feasible. There's no way he can take in all those new patients, but he can't just ignore them either, not knowing if they are in crisis until he talks to them, and then helps them find a therapist or other mental health care provider that fits their needs.
This means he's spending hours and hours of extra work a week trying to deal with all this.
It seems like Gainesville could use a mental-health hub to help people in need find a therapist that works for them, and works with their insurance. Some sort of organization that actively works with our local therapists and mental health care providers to be able to do this vital triage and middle-man work. This would not only help potential patients, but ease the burden on therapists...and also remove some of the hit-and-miss messiness (and waste of time and money) of trying to find a therapist that fits one's needs.
IS there an organization that already exists that does this? Or does it in a way that is really connected to all our local providers?
If not, is there a way to create such a hub? I don't project that the mental and emotional health of our citizens is going to improve anytime soon, particularly under the current state and local political situation. People of color, people of diverse sexuality and genders, marginalized people, immigrants, people affected by ecological disaster, even simply people of good will--they're going to need good care. Things are a mess.
Thank you for your time and attention, and please have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
Jenna Nishida
Gainesville, FL
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