By Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Grace Rubenstein
Published on 2024-01-18 09:30:07
In May, 10 students and two instructors from across California gathered on Zoom to discuss the essential skill of empathy. Empathy, according to instructor Elizabeth Morrison, is vital for effective mental health care providers, yet is often undervalued. Morrison noted that people who are drawn to the academy already tend to possess empathy and effectively communicate it, which is an important but often overlooked counseling skill. The students present were not formal psychology students or therapists, but rather workers from health clinics, public health organizations, and substance abuse treatment programs. They joined the Lay Counselor Academy, a private program created by Morrison in 2022 to train workers in community settings to provide mental health counseling, even without an official therapy license.
Mental health care in the United States is currently in crisis, as the need for care continues to grow while the supply of therapists lags behind. The shortage of mental health providers results in more than one in five U.S. adults suffering from mental illness receiving no care. People often find themselves on long waitlists for care, while others cannot afford it, particularly individuals living in rural areas and people of color. To address this critical issue, there is a growing push to create more pathways into the field of mental health care by innovating on the traditional model of mental health treatment, including expanding the types of providers offering mental health care.
The traditional path to therapist licensure in the United States involves earning a master’s degree, passing standardized exams, working thousands of hours under supervision, and then obtaining licensure. These requirements not only contribute to the overall lack of therapists in the U.S. but also to the lack of diversity among practitioners. For instance, Black and Hispanic psychologists are underrepresented in the field compared to the overall population.
There is a growing interest in integrating lay counselors into the mental health care system to fill the gaps in support for mental health care. By integrating lay counselors into the mental health care system, it is believed that the exclusive reliance on trained mental health care providers can be addressed more effectively. Lynn Bufka, associate chief of practice transformation and quality at the APA, argues that this expanded approach to providing mental health care is essential, especially considering the existing workforce’s inability to meet the need for mental health services.
One example of a pilot program to address the shortage of therapists is the initiative at San Ysidro Health. Community health workers, who speak the language of the community and come from the same cultures as patients, have been trained to lead therapy groups in English and other languages. This initiative has proven to be impactful, leading to positive outcomes for patients and reducing hospitalization in instances of mild to moderate mental health issues. Many experts and practitioners believe that licensed therapists play a vital role in the field but also recognize that effective care can be provided by lay counselors with the right structures in place.
Read the original article on Africa Health News
