Experts thank Casey DeSantis for reducing ‘stigma’ around mental health, discuss solutions

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Molina Healthcare joined partners around the state to improve Floridians’ mental and behavioral health in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.

Experts joined a virtual panel to talk about health issues and solutions they can implement.

Molina Healthcare’s mission, according to their website, is to deliver effective, reliable and affordable health care. They offer a holistic, community-based approach designed specifically to meet the individual needs of their members. 

“We at Molina Healthcare, join partners around the state to work together to improve Floridian’s health and lives and that includes their behavioral health. We are all in this together. Each of us has a particular skill or tool, unique to every individual that we can use to help others with behavioral health issues,” President and CEO of Molina Healthcare Florida Mike Jones said.

The virtual panel is titled “Behavioral Health in the Aftermath of Hurricane Ian” and is part of the MolinaCares Accord, their community investment platform.

First Lady Casey DeSantis has taken initiatives to improve mental health. Shortly after Hurricane Ian, she announced mental health resources available for those facing challenges and has raised millions of dollars to provide help for those in need.

“Certainly the work the first lady has done has been rocket fuel to this issue and we’re seeing some real bipartisan leadership on this front and we’re excited to work with First Lady DeSantis and our colleagues in the legislature and with our partners throughout the state to make Florida not just a leader economically and other areas, but a leader in how we cultivate resiliency in terms of behavioral health, strengthen our families, strengthen our communities,” Rep. Sam Garrison said.

According to Journalist Kimberly Moore who led the virtual panel, a study out of Polk County found one in seven “friends, neighbors and co-workers” struggle with depression. She said one of the most “alarming statistics” is 17-24% of students, depending on their age, have thought about suicide.

President and CEO of the Florida Behavioral Health Association Melanie Brown-Woofter shared that in 2020, data was released by the University of Delaware that studied 281 natural disasters and found for 12 years that the rate of suicide increased by 23% afterward.

“We are forever changed by the pandemic, we now have the hurricanes and other disasters and so, our mental health has definitely been impacted. So anecdotally, we feel and we know from the hurricane that there has been depression, anxiety increase among our neighbors and ourselves but we now have longer term data to show the impact of national disasters,” Brown-Woofter said.

CEO of Centerstone Behavioral Health Services in Florida Melissa Larkin-Skinner explained how the reduction of the mental health “stigma” has helped individuals become more comfortable with getting the help they need.

“There’s the immediate trauma, the acute stress, the loss, the uncertainty of events like the pandemic and the hurricane. And then there’s also the chronic stress [….] The reduction in stigma has increased tenfold and that is incredibly important because what that does is it helps people become more comfortable with the idea of, we all experience stress, we all experience trauma, we all experience depression, anxiety and grief. We all grieve and it makes us more likely to reach out for help and there is help,” Larkin-Skinner said.

Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma shared some of the struggles first responders go through during natural disaster events.

“When these natural disasters come, the hurricanes, you know we saw it with Ian, we saw it with Michael, these first responders are leaving their families, going out and serving other communities when many of their own personal homes have been devastated,” Lemma said. “They worry about their families that are at home but yet have to have the cognitive ability to move forward and protect and serve others. And when those crises go one, sometimes it’s the relationships that we build through venues like this with Molina and others that will get citizens the help and services that they need.”

Lemma explained how important it is for first responders to have someone to talk to about their mental health and thanked First Lady DeSantis for raising money and helping first responders after Hurricane Ian.

“We’ve been a profession for a good number of years that subscribed to this mindset that big boys and girls don’t cry, right? [….] You can’t ever talk about how you are emotionally and I think that we’ve really warmed up to the sensitivity of understanding statistically, police officers across this country have one of the highest suicide rates,” Lemma said.

“A lot of that stuff is built upon from the trauma that they see over the years and having resources and people that we can talk to is so incredibly important and I wan’t to thank First Lady Casey DeSantis because we’ve worked very closely with her as soon as Governor DeSantis took office and they moved into Tallahassee. They had roundtable discussions and they have raised millions and millions of dollars to help support the unintended consequences of the storms and a lot of that money has gone to first responder families as well,” Lemma continued.

Brown-Woofter explained how the grief process is different for each person and for some, could take “quite some time” to be able to move on.

“I’d like to add that people are grieving now, they’ve experienced loss, either family members, friends, you know, loss of their homes, and so the grief process is not linear and so sometimes grief is immediate, sometimes it’s in the future, six or eight months away and it comes in waves and in cycles and so it’s going to take folks quite some time to be able to sort through that grief process and to be able to move on you know, with their lives,” Brown-Woofter said.

Lemma said sheriffs across the state are working on initiatives to help people recover and get the treatment they may need.

“I think that the policing profession is really leading the charge with this attitude of mental health condition is not a situation of trying to make bad people good but rather sick people well. The sheriffs across the state are using their political capital with the legislative process to create new initiatives that actually help people recover and get into some treatment,” Lemma said.

Brown-Woofter said there are new partnerships and collaborations happening in Florida for mental health such as integrating mental health, substance use and primary care together. She also said there are new teams, like law enforcement and behavioral health, working together.

“We are seeing some exciting new partnerships and collaborations in the community so that we are able to address mental health needs, address the entire person [….] A mental health diagnosis is a medical diagnosis and a mental health crisis is a medical crisis and we are seeing a shift in how we view that and how we treat that,” Brown-Woofter said.

“There’s lots of opportunities out there, there’s lots of innovation that’s happening in Florida and across our nation,” she continued.

Larkin-Skinner talked about the signs for friends or family to look out for someone who may be struggling with their mental health such as different sleeping patterns, loss of interest in things they were interested in before, appetite, attitude, and “anything that’s significantly different than it was before they started noticing a difference.”

“Everyone experiences emotions a little bit differently, everyone experiences the events of life, the traumas differently. So it’s important to acknowledge, we’re not going to be exactly alike […] But really what you look for is any change, any significant change in behavior [….] Ask them if everything is okay,” Larkin-Skinner said.

Brown-Woofter said the first lady has “broken the stigma” of mental health. She explained how it is now “normal” to talk about mental health, depression and anxiety.

“First Lady Casey DeSantis has almost single handedly broken the stigma. She has just been a champion and has made every day conversations okay and normal. People talk about mental health around the dinner table, people talk about mental health or depression, anxiety in their offices if they’re back together, in the grocery store. These conversations didn’t occur just a very few years ago,” Brown-Woofter said.

Moore said if you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, there is a new national hotline for mental health help which is 988.