"Coming from the non-profit
crisis center and then going into a school, I relied on Belmont Hills a lot for kids who
were in crisis or suicidal. Now we don’t have that resource anymore, and thankfully,
nothing has happened. I did have something and I did take them over to County, but they
can’t keep them, they don’t have an adolescent unit. There is no inpatient psych
care for children in this county, and that should not be the case with the resources that
we have available to us."
— Social Services Representative
"A big need that I see is
[seniors] who need mental health services. I have a lot of clients who are depressed. They
go to their doctors and their doctor says to the family, ‘They’re just old.
You’ll be depressed too when you’re that old.’ They’ll give them
anti-depressants and then they won’t monitor, they won’t follow-up. That happens
a lot."
— Social Services Representative
"I would say a huge
majority of the older adults that I see are probably clinically depressed and not being
diagnosed correctly and not being treated correctly."
— Social Services Representative
"One of the things that
[the medical profession] does not do well is screen for depression, and it doesn’t
necessarily take a physician to do that. I think that older people, especially those who
are depressed, need an advocate."
— Social Services Representative