REGIONAL- Two days of meetings with local health care providers, mental health providers, educators, advocates, and community members are giving Assistant Health Commissioner Jennifer DeCubellis a better idea of what services are needed to keep rural residents healthy.

“Mental health is a common thread in our rural communities,” said John Soghigian, who along with Keran Flynn-Kroska and Amy Richter formed the Ely Area Chapter of the County Mental Health Advisory Council. The three share a concern, both professionally and personally, for increasing access to mental health and other services for residents in our area. Their outreach efforts, and attempts to improve access to a full range of mental health services for both children and adults, led to the visit by DeCubellis, to Ely and Tower, June 15 and 16.

DeCubellis is Assistant Commissioner for the Community Supports Administration in the State Department of Human Services (DHS). Her mission at DHS is to build systems that work across the state in her areas of responsibility, which include mental health services for children and adults, as well as alcohol and drug abuse services.

“Your keeping us informed of what is needed in Ely and surrounding areas is critical. I would like to visit up there this summer,” she wrote to the Ely Chapter. “Building a system that works across Minnesota is invaluable.”

In her first six months on the job at DHS, DeCubellis explained she is focusing on improving the systems for providing services to those in need.

“I’ve found that for our most vulnerable populations with the most complex needs, we’ve created systems that are as complex as they are, when we should be doing exactly the opposite,” she said.

She explained that the main focus of her visit was to find out what is working, and what isn’t working. With a background and passion in designing services and programs, DeCubellis is hoping to find more efficient ways to spend state resources to best serve those in need. Her approach, she said, is patient-centered, allowing patients’ needs to drive what services are offered and available.

The state legislature has approved $50 million in additional mental health investment in the new budget, she said, with $30 million dedicated to funding for youth. The funding will help create more beds for high-need patients, as well as fund crisis services, crisis respite services, and early identification services.

“We are trying to keep kids in school and out of the criminal justice system,” she said.

During her two days in the Ely area, she was meeting with a wide range of professionals and community members with interest in community health and education.

The visit also included a community forum during the Ely Tuesday Group meeting on June 16.

At a meeting at the Vermilion Country Charter School in Tower, a group of educators, mental health professionals, and providers discussed barriers to accessing mental health services in our area.

Items on the agenda included home-based services, school-based services, outreach and access for services, access for services on the Bois Forte Reservation, psychological and learning disability screenings, childcare and respite services for children with disabilities.

The Adapt program, which places counselors from Range Mental Health in area schools, was cited as having a very positive impact on children with mental health issues, as well as those facing other challenges. Such collaborative programs are essential in rural areas, many noted, because they bring services directly to where the children are located.

Virgil Sohm, a mental health worker for Bois Forte, noted that the needs in rural Minnesota are just as great as in the Twin Cities, but the services needed are not available nearby. He noted he will often have to place clients in treatment programs in western or southern Minnesota, which makes it almost impossible for family members to participate in treatment, or to establish out-patient treatment after a patient is released.

The roundtable-style discussion focused on how to prioritize needs, ways to more efficiently provide services, and ways to improve how the system works for people in rural areas.

Several noted the importance of school-based resources, and said having a counselor available on a daily basis was the most efficient way to deliver services, as well as allowing someone to develop lasting relationships with students, which often meant that mental health issues could be handled before they became a crisis and required in-patient treatment.

Several noted that it was hard to find providers in this area, but said there are some programs in place that may be able to provide student-debt relief for rural providers.

Funding treatment and housing options for adult mentally-ill and chemically-dependent people was also discussed.

“Our whole system is not built on prevention,” said Sohm, “but how to get dollars once it is a crisis.”

DeCubellis said the department is committed to “build pathways out of poverty” as well as creating an incremental support system that won’t financially punish people as they build a more stable income.