Published: September 30, 2008 11:09 pm         

Mental Health Advocacy Center to provide education

A new advocacy group has started in northwest Oklahoma to draw attention to the needs for more mental health services in our rural area.

The group is called Mental Health Advocacy Center of Northwest Oklahoma, and it was begun as the result of more awareness of gaps in mental health services in Enid and Garfield County.

Many mental health professionals have known there are gaps in mental health services, such as lack of inpatient facilities and programs for youths and adults. However, when the OSU Psychiatry Physicians Clinic was closed by the university a month ago, it further enhanced the awareness of the lack of mental health services.

Rural areas in Oklahoma in general suffer from a lack of mental health services. Professionals in the industry are correct in there needs to be more education about what mental health care entails and mental illnesses are just as common as physical illnesses.

Patients with mental illness deserve to have the variety of care and services patients with other physical illnesses have come to expect.

One goal of the new advocacy group is to increase awareness of the prevalence of mental illness and the need for mental health services. They intend to advocate for more services and to educate the public about the realities of mental illness and the benefits to the entire community by having quality and available mental health services.

It will be a long process, but progress has to begin somewhere. People have to be educated about a situation before seeing a need to change it.

Starting a local advocacy group is a step in the right direction.