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MC3 in the Media

How can Michigan address its dire shortage of mental health professionals?

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  • Alyssa Wealty |

  • Apr 14, 2022
Photo of Michelle Schulte, the maternal infant child health division director of the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan

The following article was written by Estelle Slootmaker and originally published by Second Wave Michigan. It mentions the MC3 program in reference to MC3’s collaboration with the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan to improve mental health outcomes for members of Michigan’s tribal communities.


This article is part of State of Health, a series about how Michigan communities are rising to address health challenges. It is made possible with funding from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund.

Even as mental health issues have risen worldwide, Michigan has fallen behind on having enough health professionals to address that trend. According to National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) data, there were 421,000 Michiganders who did not receive needed mental health care in 2021, but only 38.4% cited cost as the reason. A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis illustrates one of the other key reasons people aren’t getting the care they need. That study finds that more than four million Michiganders live in communities with a shortage of mental health professionals, ranking fifth worst in the nation, behind Texas, California, Alaska, and Missouri.

“There’s a systemic shortage. We don’t have enough providers to meet the needs of the population. The shortage has progressively gotten worse over the last five or 10 years. And we’re feeling the impact even more due to COVID,” says Timothy Michling, research associate in health affairs at the Citizens Research Council of Michigan and author of a report entitled “Michigan Falls Short on Mental Health Services.” “When we look at projections going forward, we see the gap between demand and supply of providers widening. If we don’t address the issue now, it’s only going to get worse in the future.”

According to Michling, this shortage spans the mental health professions, from direct caregivers to master’s-level therapists to social workers to psychiatrists to psychologists. Many Michigan counties have no psychiatrists, particularly for children and adolescents.

“Mental health underpins our wellness as a society. We see much worse outcomes in a variety of health conditions when you have an untreated mental health disorder. This affects our economy and our society at large,” Michling says. “Students are not able to do as well in school if they have an undiagnosed or untreated mental health condition. And that follows children into adulthood. It affects their career readiness. It affects our rates of homelessness, our rates of unemployment and workforce participation.”

Filling the void for tribal communities

Effects of the mental health professional shortage vary by geographic region in Michigan. Six Upper Peninsula counties and nine Lower Peninsula counties have no psychiatrists, and three UP counties and seven Lower Peninsula counties have neither psychiatrists or psychologists. Michelle Schulte, maternal infant child health division director for the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan (ITCMI), works with Northern Michigan tribal communities located in some of these areas of need.

“The shortage of mental health professionals is impacting people in our communities in a very bad way,” Schulte says. “We have long waiting lists … People who have needs can’t get in. In our rural areas, especially the UP, many people have to travel two to four hours to get the kind of care that they need. Some tribal communities have a limited contract with a local psychiatrist or psychologist that comes in maybe once a month and sees everybody on that same day. If you miss your appointment or can’t make it on that day, you’re stuck.”

Schulte and her ITCMI colleagues have collaborated with a wide range of partners to create projects and programs that shore up the lack of mental health services, especially for children and young families. MIchigan Medicine’s Michigan Child Collaborative Care program provides mental health services via telehealth. The Michigan Public Health Institute and Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health programs train early childhood teachers to address children’s mental health in Head Start programs and tribal schools, and to equip designated child behavior specialists from within the community to support families. 

“We’re seeing children who have a high influx of behaviors that our early childhood providers have never had to deal with before or feel ill-equipped to deal with,” Schulte says. “A child may have disruptions at home, … may not have slept well, may not have been bathed, or may feel run down. How do we address it in a way that the child gets what they need, as far as nurturing attention or care?”

ITCMI social media campaigns enlist aunts, uncles, and grandparents to play traditional cultural roles in raising children within extended families. An ITCMI focus group with tribal elders explored Anishinaabe words for resiliency, producing rich definitions that strengthen that concept in community. 

“Our goal is to support healthy development and resiliency in children,” Schulte says. 

NAMI Michigan a first responder for many

Kevin Fischer, executive director of NAMI’s Michigan chapter, agrees that the state is experiencing a dire shortage of mental health professionals. That may be one reason that NAMI affiliates across the country have seen requests for help increase between 80% and 100% over the last year. The nature of the calls for help has changed, as well. More people are calling with an urgent need for services. NAMI’s education and support programs also are seeing huge increases in enrollment.

“People are calling to get a better understanding of what’s going on, what a mental health diagnosis means,” Fischer says. “For example, they ask, ‘What is schizophrenia? What does bipolar mean?’ They may have a family member and want to better understand how they can help them.”

NAMI Michigan’s peer-support volunteers help the nonprofit meet this increasing need. These peers have lived experience of mental illness. That experience may be helpful to a person initially diagnosed with a mental illness, who may feel uncomfortable talking to friends or family members about it.

“They really want to talk to somebody who’s walked in their shoes already, to get an understanding of what their recovery process would look like,” Fischer says. “Peer supports have become tremendously valuable.”

Fischer notes that unless more mental health professionals enter the field, Michigan communities will be ill prepared for increasing demand for mental health services. For example, from 1999 to 2019, suicide rates have increased in the general population by 35%. Other groups have seen even more severe increases. Among Black male adolescents, suicide attempts increased by nearly 80% between 1991 and 2019.

“We’re seeing another significant uptick in needs for mental health services among young people because of social distancing and closing the schools,” Fischer says. “There’s a significant increase in mild to moderate mental illness — depression, anxiety, some self-harm like cutting. Across the board, there’s been a significant increase.”

More strategies for increasing the ranks

Fischer notes that the surge in telehealth usage has helped address the shortage of mental health professionals, especially when COVID-19 limited face-to-face health care visits. While virtual video calls are not the answer for every person living with mental illness, the modality has had surprising success. Another strategy that could help relieve the shortage is better equipping primary care providers to offer mental health services.

“We’re in this age now where we’re talking about integrated health care. Our primary care physicians really should be our first responders for behavioral health care,” Fischer says. “They are able to diagnose and prescribe medication for people who are experiencing mild to moderate mental health diagnoses, or refer them to a psychiatrist or psychologist if they think something more serious is going on, like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. But that’s not the norm.”

Michling concurs. However, even though primary care physicians may have received mental health care training in medical school, many are not comfortable — or not willing — to tackle mental health issues during office visits. Additional options to address the shortage include policy changes that allow nurse practitioners to have a wider scope of practice, school loan forgiveness for college graduates entering behavioral health care fields, and better insurance reimbursement levels for behavioral health services.

“We also want to look at ways to incentivize people to stay in the field so we don’t have high rates of atrophy and people leaving the field for other professions. That requires research on why folks are leaving,” Michling says. “Recruitment efforts at the undergraduate or high school level could make a really clear talent pipeline and career trajectory for folks to get into various behavioral health careers. Beyond that, providing grants to help hospital emergency departments deal with psychiatric or other mental health emergencies, or supplemental training for physicians, nurses, and other emergency department personnel, could make them better equipped to deal with what we’re seeing.”

While finding ways to increase the ranks of mental health professionals is essential, Michling feels it is even more important to address the root causes of growing mental illness among Michiganders.

“Much in the way that we treat chronic disease, we want to focus our public health resources on strategies to deal with stress, improved nutrition, improved sleep, mitigating the community-level factors that we know can put people at greater risk for experiencing a mental health disorder,” Michling says. “That prevention piece, I think, is what’s really lost.”

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WXYZ-TV Detroit | Channel 7 interview with Dr. Dayna LePlatte

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  • Alyssa Wealty |

  • May 11, 2021
Screen shot of Dr. LePlatte on Channel 7 Detroit

Dr. Dayna LePlatte, an MC3 Psychiatrist, was featured on WXYZ-TV Detroit | Channel 7, sharing her insights about the stress women are under during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Watch segment

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MC3 Informational Sessions

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  • Laura Drayton |

  • Aug 31, 2020

Informational Sessions

The MC3 program offers psychiatry support to primary care providers in Michigan who are managing patients living with a mental health condition.  This includes children, adolescents, young adults through age 26, and women who are contemplating pregnancy, pregnant or postpartum (up to one year).  Interested in learning more?  Register for an upcoming informational session that will include a short, 10-minute overview of MC3, followed by time for questions:

None scheduled at this time

Contact us at
MC3-admin@med.umich.edu to schedule

Testimonials from Enrolled Providers

“I can’t even express how this service has enhanced the care I can provide. In the past, we'd screen and diagnose and then send moms out. We'd place referrals and hope that folks could navigate the complex system. Now, with MC3, I can collaborate with psychiatry; start meds or treatment and access community resources that I am confident they will be able to access. It’s really been invaluable.”
“I learn something new with every MC3 consult. I am more confident with management of mental health services as a result of having the service available. I very much appreciate this service. They discuss the pros and cons of different meds, they discuss follow up, and they follow up really quickly.”
“This service has been absolutely ‘practice-changing’. As we have more and more patients with mental health issues and limited local resources- we are essentially the only option for these kids. Having MC3 support helps us make good treatment decisions and is also ‘on the job training’ which we can apply to future patients…”
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MC3 Statement of Solidarity and Resources on Race and Racism

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  • Laura Drayton |

  • Jun 24, 2020

MC3 Statement of Solidarity

We have all watched with sadness as nationally publicized accounts of police brutality, violence, and racism have unfolded across the country.  These displays of overt, violent racism have shaken us out of our daily routines and demanded our attention, but they are all part of the much deeper problem of systemic and institutional racism in America that must be addressed.

As healthcare professionals and providers for children, we are too often aware of the oppressive social determinants of health that lead to unjust, inequitable outcomes.  Our training has taught us that ACEs (adverse childhood events) disproportionately impact children of color and heighten risk for mental health issues. We are called to the continuous and ongoing work to disrupt and dismantle systems of inequity.

Today, and every day, we stand in solidarity with Black families, colleagues, and communities in protest against systemic racism and injustice.

We recognize that statements of solidarity are not enough to drive the change this moment demands; a moment long overdue.  Moving forward, we commit to challenging systemic racism and to standing on the frontlines of change.  We will hold ourselves accountable, within our institutions and as individuals, to examine our unconscious biases and work to become better allies, better learners, better teachers, and better people in the pursuit of building a new and just society.

Resources

General Resources
  • Racial Equity Tools
  • Racial Equity Tools Glossary 
  • NPR – Beyond Protests: 5 Ways to Channel Anger into Action to Fight Racism
  • Dismantle Collective – White Allyship 101: Resources to Get to Work
  • PBS Teachers’ Lounge – Tools for Anti-racist Teaching 
Family Resources
  • Zero to Thrive – Supporting Young Children with Conversations on Race and Racism 
  • Michigan Medicine – Thrive With Your Family Episode 7: Loss and Grief
  • Child Mind Institute – Racism and Violence: How to Help Kids Handle the News
  • Center for Racial Justice in Education – Resources for Talking about Race, Racism and Racialized Violence with Kids
  • American Psychological Association – Talking to Kids About Discrimination 
  • CNN – Sesame Street Town Hall Part 1 and Part 2
  • CNN – How to talk to your kids about protests and racism
  • PBS Kids – Using Media to Talk With Children About Race
  • Pretty Good Design – Your Kids Aren’t Too Young to Talk About Race: Resource Roundup
  • National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) – Childhood Traumatic Grief: Resources for Parents and Caregivers
  • A Cup of Jo – Raising Race-Conscious Children
  • American Academy of Pediatrics – The Impact of Racism on Child and Adolescent Health
Books and Videos
  • Social Justice Books – A selection of multicultural and social justice books for children, young adults, and educators
  • Embrace Race – Looking for Excellent “Diverse” Books for Children? Start Here!
  • Esquire – If You Want to Learn About Anti-Racism, These 10 Books Are a Start (for adults)
  • What’s Your Grief – 64 Children’s Books About Death and Grief
  • Embrace Race: 20 Picture Books for 2020: Readings to Embrace Race, Provide Solace & Do Good
  • Ready to Remember, a book that tells the story of Jeremy, a boy suffering from Childhood Traumatic Grief, or watch the video
  • The National Child Traumatic Stress Network – Rosie Remembers Mommy: Forever in Her Heart (video)
Provider Resources
  • Michigan Health Lab – Protecting Children After the Wounds of Racism Divide Us Even More
  • Dr. Stephanie Fong Gomez (AAP 2020 grantee) – Anti-Racism Resources for Pediatricians
  • Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology – Childhood Racism Experiences and Postpartum Depressive Symptoms in African American Mothers
  • Institute for Healthcare Improvement – The Role of Racism as a Core Patient Safety Issue
  • AMA Journal of Ethics – How Should Organizations Respond to Racism Against Healthcare Workers?
  • UCONN Culture and Mental Health Disparities Lab – Trauma in Diverse Populations (Racial/Ethnic Stress & Trauma Survey)
  • American Psychological Association – Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Racial and Ethnic Minority Youth: A Guide for Practitioners
Perinatal Resources
  • Zero to Thrive
  • Michigan Department of Health and Human Services – Maternal Infant Health Program
  • Text 4 Baby – A free app to help expecting mom with health, support, and appointment tracking
  • WIN Network – Black Maternal Health Week: Find free resources for pregnancy and motherhood in Detroit

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Recent Posts

  • Fall 2022 Newsletter
  • MC3 pilots new perinatal services in SE Michigan – Oct. 2022 update
  • Whitmer Announces Appointments to School Safety and Mental Health Commission
  • Tips for handling back to school anxiety
  • Does your child have anxiety?

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