Crossroads BH sees clients return after year-long pause

May is recognized as National Health Awareness Month and as the COVID-19 crisis eases, the crisis within the individual persists.

The pandemic caused a substantial toll on the mental health of the population as it has the well-being of those who fought the coronavirus, said Mick Collias, clinical team lead at Crossroads Behavioral Health. He is seeing more people use their services as restrictions continue to drop.

“I think that with people being more comfortable with coming out and engaging more with the community as we emerge out of lockdown, I think people are looking for more opportunities to kind of talk about what they’ve experienced,” he said.

The isolation suffered by the population in response to the pandemic was detrimental to people’s mental health in Collias’s view.

“We are inherently social creatures and so having this long period of being away from friends, away from family, you see this impact on people’s mental health,” he said.

Some clients who have discontinued services in 2020 are now reengaging with Crossroads BH and the impact of prolonged isolation is evident.

“I’ve seen folks who have had reported increases in anxiety, increases in depression, increases with dissatisfaction with their relationships and things like that,” Collias said.

About a year ago, Crossroads switched to all-virtual sessions with the majority of their clients, Collias added.

Before the pandemic, there was a stigma around getting treatment for one’s psychological issues, which Collias said is a barrier to people seeking help.

“That stigma is something that I definitely see does impact people’s initial desire to come to therapy,” Collias said. “I think we’ve made great strides in that I think as a culture and a broader acceptance of mental health therapy with that, but that stigma, the idea that mental health therapy is for someone who has something wrong with them, or that they are a problem person, it still lingers like a dark cloud over us in general.”

Besides societal pressures, cost is another prohibitive factor in potential clients backing away from services. However, Crossroads BH offers assistance to people in need.

“Sometimes the financial concern does create a barrier for services, however, I can only speak for our organization, and I know that here we have ways to assist people with that,” he said. “Being public health, we do have sliding fee scales, which can help pare down cost for people, we also accept most insurances and things like that but yes, I would say cost is sometimes a prohibitive factor for people looking to get help.”

At a certain point, the weight of the mental duress one is under is too heavy to bear, which is when Collias often see clients admit themselves.

“I think often times one of the breaking points for people coming to therapy is a large amount of dissatisfaction with the way things are currently going for themselves” he said. “usually we find that someone has come to therapy for the most part when things get almost unbearable, when it gets almost too hard for them to handle things on their own or in their own way and it feels like what they do isn’t working.”

Collias said he is encouraged when people find themselves having to admit they need professional services.

“We can’t do everything all by ourselves.”