Mental health in focus in Berkeley County | News

Berkeley County is recognizing May as Mental Health Awareness Month. The proclamation comes as mental health becomes more prevalent in teens and adolescence. But the bright side is there’s less fear when it comes to reaching out and getting help.

“Every Berkeley County citizen can make a difference in helping end the silence and stigma that for too long has surrounded mental illness and discouraged people from getting help,” said Council member Caldwell Pinckney, while reading the proclamation on May 8. “Public education and civic activities can encourage mental health and help improve the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness.”

And work is continuing to do that. Now more than ever the veil is being lifted on mental health corners. Maintaining mental health and learning the symptoms of mental illness is no longer something many people put off.

“I would say that stigma is still prevalent and it continues to prevent and prohibit people from seeking care. But as the younger generation becomes more understanding of mental illness and more accepting of people with mental illness seeking care themselves. The stigma is not as pervasive as it once was,” said Matthew Dorman, Executive Director of Berkeley County Community Mental Health Center.

It’s the younger generation where Dorman said he is seeing the majority of certain mental health concerns, and something he believes society needs to plan ahead for.

“The prevalence rate for depression and anxiety has increased over the past four years. The number of adolescence seeking mental health services has increased,” said Dorman. “There some connection to that with the pandemic. It is concerning to me that the mental health industry needs to prepare now for the increased volume of those seeking mental health services.”

While the stigma is lessening so is the approach with how law enforcement treats the mentally ill. A new program started by Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office takes a more caring tone when dealing with inmates who are mentally ill.

“Over 40 percent of the (jail) population had some sort of mental illness. In some cases, some of these people probably don’t deserve to be in a jail, they deserve to be in some mental facility,” said Sheriff Duane Lewis when the project was first announced.

The program officially started at the beginning of October. Now inside the Berkeley County jail, cold steel bars are no longer how the mentally ill are policed. The $375,000 in grant money is being used for actual, fulltime clinicians inside the facility, to give counseling and distribute medication.

Recent annual numbers released by the department shows through the pilot program clinicians were hired to evaluate and treat inmates with mental health issues. The findings from the department shows that between October and December, 90% of inmates who were evaluated were prescribed medication.

Approximately 41% of inmates evaluated by the psychiatrist have a serious mental illness and 615 services were provided. The average number of days an inmate remained on suicide watch decreased from 12.5 days to 2.8 days.

Although main goal is to help those suffering from mental health problems to get help and treatment before they get caught in the revolving door of catch and release. And the best way to that is the make sure those who need it get treatment early.

“I don’t think it’s enough anymore to refer them or give them number. I would encourage you to walk them through the process or drive them to a mental health center to ensure they get the care that they need,” said Dorman.

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