BOISE, Idaho — A new report dives into possible opportunities to improve youth mental health in Idaho. I'm your neighborhood reporter, Alexander Huddleston, speaking with the researcher behind the project, who explains how some communities are facing more mental health challenges than others.
"It's not news that there is a behavioral health crisis among youth across the nation," shrugged Jackie Yarbrough of the Blue Cross of Idaho.
Wednesday afternoon, stakeholders at the Blue Cross of Idaho listened as Rachel Blanton explained the findings of a two-year study on the mental health of Idaho youth.
Blanton explained, "I believe we have structural issues within the state. Whether it's the way we set up systems to pay for care, the way we support schools, the way we invest or don't invest in rural help, and how we support programs at a state level."
Blanton explained that what's preventing these issues from being addressed is a lack of resources and services offered to numerous aspects of a child's life. But there is one community that has the hardest fight.
"It is particularly an issue in rural communities, who have fewer providers, [and] fewer resources." At this moment, we know our state agencies have a lot of resource constraints, and they have a lot of pressure on them, too. I don't think it's that they are necessarily dated or broken; I think there is a lot of pressure on them, but I think the biggest pressure needs to be to take care of the kids," finished Blanton.
If you or a loved one is going through a mental health crisis, you can call 988 for the suicide and crisis lifeline.
Blanton hopes the findings of this report will help get the state on track to address the issues.
