Two local mental health providers talk with the EVV about mental health

If you break your leg, you go to a doctor. But what if your problem is emotional, not physical? Hopefully, you will seek treatment for that issue, too.

Listen to story on the EVV Podcast here:

Asking for help with emotional problems can be hard because of long-standing social, cultural, and personal beliefs about mental health and illness.

For some, asking for help is a sign of personal weakness. Talking about emotional issues is taboo in some cultures. Historically, the way people with mental illness have been treated – being restrained, lobotomized, institutionalized, and stripped of civil rights – has colored our understanding of mental illness.

The National Association for Mental Health, now Mental Health America, along with the U.S. Junior Chamber—the Jaycees—joined forces in 1949 to destigmatize mental illness and educate the public about mental health care. Since then, May has been observed as National Mental Health Month.

Over the past seven decades, great progress has been made in assessing the efficacy of treatments, from medications to counseling modalities, including psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, and integrative therapies.

While modern mental health care is a blend of both art and science, we know that mental health is influenced by physical and biological factors such as exercise, nutrition, genetics, physical health, traumas, losses, and both acute and long-term stress.

Accessing care, however, can be difficult. Two significant barriers are costs and long wait lists for appointments at clinics or with providers.

Mental health care in the Estes Valley

In the Estes Valley, a community of nearly 12,000 residents, there are only a handful of clinicians in private or clinic-based practice and finding the right one who can address specific issues – depression, trauma, substance use, and who can work with adolescents, teens, young adults, seniors, couples, families – can be a challenge.

Sarah Hills opened a private practice 16 years ago after working in the addiction treatment field. A licensed professional counselor, certified addictions counselor, and a certified ARISE interventionist, Hills earned her degrees at Colorado State University and the University of Northern Colorado. 

“My practice focuses on adults and families,” said Hills in a recent interview with the Estes Valley Voice. 

Complaints about anxiety and depression are common as are concerns about aging, death, grief, and loss. These issues come as no surprise since 40 percent of the population of Estes Park is over 65. 

But even positive events – a new job, a new baby, or a new home – can overwhelm a family. 

The current economic upheaval, too, is creating stress. This is where counseling comes into play. 

“I help people access tools to get to acceptance or resolution or change,” said Hills. “It’s never the counselor’s job to create an agenda but to help the individual.”

That agenda could involve setting and meeting certain goals. Hills works to empower her clients so they do not become reliant on her. 

Success comes when a client says, “I think I got what I wanted.” 

“Good mental health is the ability to find a balance of internal and external peace with yourself and the world. That might vary from day to day,” she said. 

People with good mental health use positive resources and relationships. Humans are hard-wired to ask for help and accept help when needed, Hills said. 

As a mental health provider, Hills said she needs to walk the walk, too. She sees a psychologist once a month for her own mental health care. 

“Getting emotional support is no different than getting physical support,” she said. 

On a typical day, Hills sees four clients in her office. Success depends on the individual. 

“People don’t reach out unless they want things to be different,” she said, “and it is an honor for me to walk with them at their most vulnerable.

“Everybody at some point in their life will experience things that cause suffering. Reach out for help. Much like a physical ailment, the sooner we get help, the easier it will be to treat.” 

MeeMee Lahman is the behavioral health provider at Salud Family Health in Estes Park. She has been with Salud for eight years and is a licensed professional counselor and licensed addiction counselor.

“I was trained at the Pacific graduate school for psychology. It’s a joint effort between Stanford University and Palo Alto University, and the focus is multicultural, therapeutic approaches. It’s also a family therapy-focused training program with a huge emphasis on multicultural perspectives,” said Lahman.

Her practice focuses primarily on adults, with some teens and some families. She draws on trauma-informed care, cognitive behavioral therapy, and internal family systems as clinical modalities.

“I am a certified internal family systems therapist, and I’m now a trainer for IFS as well,” said Lahman.

Salud provides integrated health care and serves 2,000 people in the Estes Valley each year. Lahman is responsible for conducting annual wellness screens and behavioral health consults at the clinic.

“We try to screen all of our dental and medical patients at least once a year, if possible. And that’s how many patients learn about our service and meet me,” said Lahman.

One of the most significant changes Lahman has seen in mental health care over the past five years is telehealth services.

“Telehealth has opened a lot of doors and changed the face of mental health in terms of the range of folks that we can now offer services to,” said Lahman.

“I am working with people who probably wouldn’t have seen me pre-COVID if telehealth was not available to them, and part of it is transportation issues, part of it is mobility issues, part of it is safety issues, working with people who don’t feel safe enough to leave their home,” explained Lahman.

The Salud clinic system accepts private insurance, Medicaid, and Medicare, and also provides care through its foundation on a sliding scale based on an individual’s economic circumstances.

Breaking barriers and paving the way

The twentieth century and the first quarter of the twentieth century saw many changes in mental health care due to the work of clinicians, researchers, and patient advocates. One of the pioneers who led the way was Clifford W. Beers.

 In 1908, Beers, a Yale University graduate, published an autobiographical account of his journey through mental illness and institutionalization, “A Mind That Found Itself, An Autobiography.”

Following the death of a brother, Beers had a mental health breakdown. He heard voices, suffered paranoid delusions, and attempted suicide before being hospitalized. His memoir recounted the trauma he experienced and witnessed in private and public asylums between 1900 and 1903.

After his discharge and over the next thirty years, Beers used his Ivy League pedigree to open doors in academic and political circles and advocate for change in treatment.

Beers founded the Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene, which became the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, and then rebranded as Mental Health America. The organization drafted commitment laws adopted by many states and established more than 100 child guidance centers in cities nationwide.

Although Beers died in 1943, three years before President Harry Truman signed the National Mental Health Act of 1946, his advocacy laid the groundwork for the bill’s passage.

The legislation established the National Institute of Mental Health, which provides funding for research, clinician training, and state grants for services.

Today, mental health clinicians are highly trained and regulated by state licensure. Care is specialized to address problems of depression, anxiety, trauma, grief, bipolar and substance use disorders, and for special groups including youth, veterans, and LGBTQ+.

Behind the numbers are human beings who face challenge of mental health problems day in and day out

Mental illness takes a toll not only on individuals but also on families, communities, the workplace, and the broader economy. A study conducted last year by economists at Yale and Columbia Universities estimated the macroeconomic cost of mental illness in the U.S. is $282 billion or 1.7% of the GDP annually.

Another study by researchers at the Deloitte Health Equity Institute and the School of Global Health at Meharry Medical College estimated that inequities in accessing mental health care cost the U.S. economy approximately $477.5 billion in 2024. Their research projects that between now and 2040, economic and social inequities in access to mental health care will result in an additional $14 trillion in healthcare spending.

While everyone is at risk for mental health problems, certain populations, including racial or ethnic minority groups, veterans who have been deployed in combat zones, people in prisons and parolees, people living with disabilities, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and low-income individuals, have historically been at higher risk for both mental illness and having difficulty getting needed services.

One in five adults in the U.S. lives with a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder ranging from mild to moderate to severe.

Six percent of all U.S. adults deal with severe mental illness that results in serious functional impairment.

Only half of all adults with a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder received inpatient or outpatient treatment.

Anxiety disorders and depression top the list of diagnoses, with 32% of adolescents reporting an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives.

In 2023, 5% of adults 18 and older had thoughts of suicide, with the highest prevalence – 12% – among young adults between the ages of 18 and 25.

Half of all mental illnesses begin by age 14 and 75% by age 24.

One in five high school students has seriously considered suicide. 

Before the COVID pandemic, 13% of children under the age of 17 had a diagnosis of a mental or behavioral condition. That number is expected to be higher today based on a rise in mental health statistics among other age groups associated with the stress caused by the pandemic.

Mental Health May

May is an opportunity for people to take stock of their own mental health and advocate with elected officials for local, state, and national mental health policies that can improve access and reduce disparities. The National Council for Mental Wellbeing has published a 31-page advocacy handbook that provides information about how to become an advocate with policy makers.

In the Estes Valley, the Mayor and Town Board members can be contacted via email on a public portal. The Larimer County Commissioners can be reached via email.

At the state level, Sen. Janice Marchman and Rep. Leslie Smith can be reached via email.

Colorado’s U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper can be reached via their websites, and Representative Joe Neguse can be reached via his website.