It may take a while for people to get an appointment at the Southwest Mississippi Mental Health Complex — a recent estimate is more than one month.
But, executive director Dr. Steve Ellis said, that’s no reason not to ask for help.
The complex isn’t the only local provider of counseling services, but it is the most diverse — with a mission centered around affordable mental health services for people who wouldn’t think of shelling out big bucks for a private practitioner.
And with more than 4,500 clients visiting the complex each year, Ellis said he hopes the community will recognize its role and benefit to the region.
“We have to make a conscious differentiation between emergencies and treatment,” Ellis said. “It’s an anti-stigma campaign. The shame that people experience from coming here is a factor. … But we are excited about what we do.”
The push comes in the wake of potential budget shortfalls discussed last month by the Pike County Economic Development District.
Changes in federal Medicaid funding have threatened to force cutbacks at community mental health providers around the state.
The dilemma is that most have a duty to provide a number of services without a clearly outlined way to fund them.
Ellis draws a comparison with private shipping companies that provide some but not all of the services the U.S. Postal Service offers.
The analogy is apt, he said, in that as private entities, those businesses pick and choose which types of service are most profitable, whereas the postal service’s mandated duties include things like delivering letter mail.
By the same token, the mental health complex can’t operate the same way a private practice would without losing the very people they are targeting for help.
“We would price many of our consumers right out of the ability to get any kind of treatment,” Ellis said. “Everything we make is folded back into the agency. If we can’t pay our bills then we can’t help anyone.”
So because the bottom line is still the bottom line, it forces a delicate balancing act.
The complex lives with longer than ideal wait times to get appointments and sends staff on a rotating basis to substations to try to make everything work as well as possible.
The challenges are significant: Region 11 is the largest geographic area of any mental health region in the state, stretching almost from Vicksburg to Walthall County.
And, with what Ellis labels “the Starbucks effect,” it is difficult to recruit and retain staff to work in mostly rural areas.
“We need highly credentialed professionals,” he said. “And there’s not a single Starbucks in these 10 counties.”
Meanwhile, the workload increases.
At one point about nine years ago, Ellis said, the agency had about 200 budgeted positions. Today, the number is 124.
“It’s difficult to respond with the personnel that we have available,” said Tracey Alexander-Boyd, mental health services coordinator.
“But we expect them to be of a caliber that they can make a determination and offer help.”
“I can see how finances affect what we do clinically,” Ellis added bluntly. “Sometimes, we do without clerical and administrative staff. We’re committed to providing the direct services.”
But, obstacles aside, that focus has served the complex well.
Incoming clients go through an intake assessment with a therapist and then move into services that can address the concerns they’ve presented, such as individual counseling or group counseling.
Once such a client is brought in, they are prioritized in scheduling, usually on a one-year timeline — a fact that can contribute to waiting time for first-time patients, but which officials say is vital to their goals.
In short, officials want the public to know the complex is functioning and doing so effectively.
“We’re not shortchanging our current clientele to squeeze in somebody else,” said Alexander-Boyd.
Of course, patients can also be referred to outside agencies if they have an imminent need the complex can’t handle, or if they’d prefer a different setting.
But the complex remains where the buck stops.
“In an emergency situation, I’m going to talk to you today,” Ellis said. “We don’t just wave goodbye to (patients) and say, ‘I hope you don’t hurt yourself.’ ”
And, Ellis said, the emphasis on working with current patients through a certain point makes the complex more efficient, cutting down on lost time due to missed appointments.
“We’re committed to working with people at the local and community level,” Ellis said. “The system is very flexible in terms of matching the clients needs to their concerns.”
The biggest challenge, Ellis maintains, is still pushing people themselves.
“A lot of times it’s fear,” he said. “They know what the problem is and they really even know what they need to do about, but they’re scared. They’re afraid it’s going to hurt to get better, so they take the long, dull pain.”
Still, Ellis argues that the community as a whole can benefit greatly from monitoring its mental health, pointing to lost productivity in the workplace as an example.
“The more people realize that we can treat things like depression and take some of that financial burden off the state, the more they’ll realize it’s a very good thing,” he said.
