The system is not designed to protect our psychological safety.
Although life is opening back up, people are boostered, and hot girl summer is around the corner, there are some pandemic ripples that are still in big motion.
Anyone who has picked up the phone, emailed in, or signed up for counseling services via a portal recently is learning quite quickly how saturated the system is at present. It is beyond difficult to find access to adequate and responsive behavioral healthcare right now. A recent inquiry @thecenterksq shared that some agencies are saying that it’s not even worth getting on their waiting lists, that’s how long the line out the door is.
Add in the other slice of the system sandwich, grad students holding the diploma but also the weight of massive debt, all to find entry level counseling jobs that pay $20/hour on average (this is before taxes mind you) and taking on burnout level caseloads. Welp. We lose a lot of people in the field before they even get in the door.
The sprinkle on top is the nightmare paperwork required by insurance providers along with the steady decline in rates paid on cases and it’s no wonder there is a skyrocketing increase in general malaise in this country.
Oof, and try to get a bed for detox, for inpatient care of any kind. Talk about walking the Russian roulette tightrope of hope that you’ll get the help you ask for.
And none of this is even addressing the quality and continuity of care...
This is a problem. When we have a system, a culture whose design is to not be able to address offering help to those who seek it, AND to not be able to adequately care for the helpers who want to help, it is of no surprise to me that we are seeing spikes of all kinds: overdoses, suicides, gun violence, and the general angst that seems to be sweeping the nation.
Throw in the state of affairs in criminal (in)justice and the rates of burnout in the field of medicine and education... it’s scary stuff, folks.
But it’s informing us, if we’re willing to do the hard work of looking at it, at the truth.
The head in the sand keep calm and carry on mindset of ages past but still present is coming to a head. People thrive in love. In support. In community. In connection. In values. Not in vacuums.