Not enough beds for mental health patients

Sept. 14--Kyra Aldridge was in seventh grade when she knew something was wrong.

She was being bullied in school. Kids were following her chanting "horrible names," she said.

The taunting was so relentless Aldridge would start to believe what they were saying, she said at a mental health community forum held at River Valley High School last week.

She had her first bout with anxiety in eighth grade. That spiraled into depression, insomnia, self-harm and even attempted suicide.

"If they didn't like me, why should I like me?" Aldridge said.

She knew something was wrong, so she decided to get help. And in doing so, she discovered a glaring problem in Yuba-Sutter, Northern California and, indeed, the entire state -- a lack of hospital beds for youths with mental health needs.

Neither Yuba nor Sutter counties has any beds set aside for youths and adolescents with psychiatric needs. In fact, there are only 155 such beds available in all of Northern California, and none of them is north of Sacramento, said Tony Hobson, director of Sutter-Yuba Mental Health Services.

For Aldridge, this lack of facilities meant a wait of almost 24 hours while county staff attempted to locate a hospital with an open bed.

"There were no beds while we waited -- we slept on couches," Aldridge said. "I hope we can advocate for youth mental health services in our area. Right now, it's not a place I would want to raise my kids."

Due to a shortage of beds in psychiatric hospitals for children statewide, Aldridge's experience is fairly typical, Hobson said.

"Because of the shortage, it takes several hours -- time that can stretch into days -- to locate an available bed, and those beds are always in other communities," Hobson said. "It is very hard on patients and their families, but it is a function of insufficient revenue statewide for psychiatric hospital beds."

Those who visit the psychiatric emergency facility at Sutter-Yuba Mental Health Services are sent, if there is a need, to one of four hospitals in Alameda, Sacramento, Contra Costa and Solano counties.

But the county cannot hold or reserve a bed. They are available on first-come, first-served basis, Hobson said.

"All Northern California counties are competing for beds," Hobson said. "It's a state problem that affects us locally."

And it's a problem that getting worse. Despite an increasing population, the number of psychiatric beds in the state has decreased by almost 3,000 since 1995 -- a drop of more than 30 percent, according to a 2012 report by the California Hospital Association.

Over that same time frame, the population in the state grew by 20 percent, according to the report.

Solutions to this problem locally are difficult, Hobson said.

Sutter-Yuba Mental Health Services offer a number of programs to prevent or intervene with mental illness. The department spends $24,000 each year on a recreation program that offers youths and adolescents therapeutic horseback rides, swimming and subsidizes the cost of participating in sports.

The department offers classes for families to prevent risky behavior and trauma that can led to mental illness, while also offering anti-bullying curriculum in local schools, Hobson said.

But the issue with the shortage of beds is unlikely to be resolved soon, Hobson said.

"We're a small area in the overall scheme of things, and the financial resources aren't there," Hobson said. "We do everything we can to make kids comfortable. But short of Rideout Memorial Hospital adding psychiatric emergency services, there's not an easy solution."

Anxiety, depression most prevalent mental health issues for youths

Locally, the most prevalent mental health issues with youths and adolescents are anxiety and depression, which are interwoven with issues such as bullying, cyberbullying and drug use, said Tony Hobson, director of Sutter-Yuba Mental Health Services.

Kyra Aldridge, a sophomore at Live Oak High School, touched on bullying and cyberbullying when she discussed her experiences with mental illness at a community forum focused on mental health last week. The event was sponsored by a number of mental health and law enforcement agencies and led by Yuba City City Councilwoman Preet Didbal.

For Didbal, the issue of mental health among local youths is a concern, and while she said the issue is not more prevalent in Yuba-Sutter relative to other communities, it is on the rise because of pressures youths feel from social media and cyberbullying.

She said youths are more prone to turn to drugs and alcohol to deal with these struggles.

"They're looking for that escape as opposed to seeking help and having discussions with other adults or parents," Didbal said. "Our whole point is to be proactive, not reactive. That's the purpose of these forums, to be forward thinking rather than trying to fix the issue by putting a Band Aid on it."

In 2013-14, there were 404 visits to Sutter-Yuba Mental Health Services for psychiatric emergency services. Of that total, 288 of the visits were from children ages four to 17, and 103 of the visits resulted in hospitalization, according to data from mental health services.

One of the main challenges to confronting the mental illness issue in the community is the stigma that surrounds it.

"It's a subject that is tough to talk about. It has a stigma that brings prejudice and discrimination and causes the whole topic to be swept under the rug," Didbal said. "Teens feel like they can't about it because of that stigma, and they're reluctant to seek help."

Hobson said teens and males ages 20 to 35 can be particularly hard to reach.

"I know people choose not to come in (the Sutter-Yuba Mental Health Services) because of what other people think," Hobson said.

Aldridge is an example of the benefit of seeking help. She is now a successful student and athlete and runs her own business.

"Achieving happiness has to do with focusing on yourself," Aldridge said. "That was the hardest thing for me. But you set small goals first -- get through the day, get through this class -- and go to larger goals."

CONTACT reporter Andrew Creasey at 749-4780 and on Twitter @AD_Creasey.

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