PARKERSBURG - Economic conditions take a toll not only on the pocketbook but on mental health as well.
Local social service agencies, including crisis and homeless services, and agencies that work with gambling addicts are reporting an increase in the number of people seeking help during these stressful economic times.
"I link individuals experiencing homelessness that may not be tapped into mainstream resources, including mental health services. We first try to find them housing then benefits and they are put in a treatment plan with a case manager," said Trenton Holbert, engagement specialist with P.A.T.H. (Project to Assist in the Transition of Homelessness), based at Westbrook Health Services.
Holbert said he's seen about a 10 percent increase in the number of individuals served over the past several months. From July 2008 to May 2009, he worked with 77 clients including some families.
"I had a woman recently in her early 60's, it was the first time she'd been homeless. She just could no longer afford her mortgage payment. She didn't know what to do or where to go. For the first time in her life, she found herself homeless. It's like the big national crisis you hear about is finally hitting home," Holbert said.
"I had a family where the father had recently lost his job, and they ended up homeless. We found them an apartment, and we helped him find another job. I think conditions are going to affect individuals with the loss of jobs, mortgages going up, and a lack of funding for homeless programs and services. Affordable housing is already difficult to find," he said.
For more information on P.A.T.H., call Westbrook at 304-485-1721, Ext. 132 or e-mail tholbert@westbrookhealth.com.
Suzanne Evans, program director with the Crisis Stabilization Unit at Westbrook, said she's seen about a 20 percent increase in those seeking services. Her program offers inpatient treatment for those with mental illness and/or drug addiction. The average stay is seven days. The unit serves approximately 300 individuals in an eight-county area.
"Right around January we started seeing an increase. We are also starting to see more substance abuse problems," she said, noting a majority of those cases are individuals abusing prescription drugs. "Typically the people we see tend to have more chronic mental health issues. We are also noticing more unemployed, uninsured, we can only take so many charity cases, we can't take them all," she said.
One of the trickle-down effects of the economic decline is that drug companies are cutting back on sample medications provided.
"We receive fewer sample medications now and we tend to rely on those for individuals who don't have insurance to help pay for their medications. It's not something you typically think about, but it is becoming a problem. Some psychiatric medications are very expensive and the clients may have very limited means," she said.
Officials with Problem Gamblers Help Network of West Virginia say calls to the 1-800-GAMBLER hotline in March were double the number for the same time last year. Director Steve Burton said he cannot be certain if this trend is caused by, or in spite of the recent economic recession.
"People who have an addiction to gambling are not more likely to stop because of bad economic news. In fact, many people who are calling us say they keep playing, hoping to win big to pay off their debts or make up for lost income," he said, adding that about 31 percent of the people now calling the help-line are unemployed, living on disability, or retired.
"It might not be that there is an increase in problem gambling. Rather, it could be that there is an increase in the number of problem gamblers who are asking for help. Certainly the current economic situation is causing some people who may have tried unsuccessfully to deal with this without help to try another route to stop gambling," Burton said of the program, which has certified professional counselors statewide.
Westbrook Health Services offers a Crisis Hotline at 304-485-1725 or toll-free 1-800-579-5844, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Kimberly Dixon, director of Crisis Services at Westbrook, said the hotline provides listening, information and referral and receives more than 5,000 calls annually. Crisis services also works with walk-ins at the mental health center, provides mental health disaster services in emergency situations, covers regional emergency rooms on psychiatric consults and coordinates the mental health commitment process for eight counties.
Dixon said they have seen some increase in the number of people coming through who have lost their insurance coverage, as well as an increase in domestic violence cases, and addicts in withdrawal. She said the hotline has gotten calls from folks worried about losing their jobs, their benefits and their homes.
"I think we're going to see the effects of the economic situation come in waves. The first wave seems to be addicts who can no longer get their drug of choice and are in withdrawal. Domestic violence cases have gone up. The third wave is going to be increased stressers when unemployment benefits run out, and families have to move in together. You're going to probably see an increase in alcohol abuse, depression and suicide. And there are people who have undiagnosed mental illnesses that can function until they hit that crash point and then start experiencing problems," she said.
