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New Year’s Eve is quickly approaching, and it cannot come quickly enough for many of us. It is difficult to put 2020 into words because just about any negative adjective may be both apt yet not strong enough at the same time. Mental Health America has released its report on the state of mental health in the United States for 2020, and the findings are concerning.
The report can be found here and highlights increases in worsening mental health in adults and youth, increases in suicidal ideation, continued unmet need for mental health treatment, and, among other findings, an increase in uninsured adults who need mental health treatment. The United States is experiencing a mental health crisis with reported frequent suicidal ideation as high as 37 percent in the month of September alone. Clinicians and stakeholders must understand that 2021 and far beyond will require everyone to try harder and do better.
Clinicians must understand that they themselves are people too and may be experiencing the same struggles that millions of other people are experiencing as well. Burnout has become a catch-all of sorts for a plethora of issues that decrease the professional competency of clinicians. An ethical clinician, however, should always be aware of when their work might be affected by their own personal struggles and take immediate steps to correct it. This is not always easy to do, but it must be done.
Stakeholders in terms of the leaders and the administrative apparatus who manage mental health sites must understand that they bear a significant portion of the responsibility for the mental health crisis that the United States finds itself in. I briefly served on a Quality Management Committee for a large mental health services provider, and during the first meeting I attended, a director was asked about burnout among clinicians. Her immediate reply was, “I don’t care if people are stressed.” That lack of accountability and type of leadership creates unnecessary roadblocks for clinicians whose own mental health may already be a concern.
American Psychological Association Services, Inc. reported that clinician burnout ranges anywhere from 21 percent to 61 percent and is heavily influenced by workplace environments, caseloads, and the severity of presenting concerns. These three influences are unfortunately areas in which a clinician may have little to no ability to improve their quality of work-life for themselves. The report is also from 2018, which means that the 21 percent to 61 percent range is likely to increase in 2021.
There are so many studies, workplace programs, and tips to manage burnout that it may be humanly impossible to consume it all. It has been long past the time to start utilizing it more. Clinicians must take factors influencing their professional competency more seriously, and administrators must take more responsibility for the workplace environments they create. This may sound like common sense, but numerous mental health sites are plagued with common sense problems, and consumers suffer for it. That needs to stop because 2021 is going to a very challenging year for both consumers and providers.
We all hope that 2021 will be a better year. It can be. Hopefully, it will be. But if it will be, it will have been because everyone tried harder to do better.
