OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — A collaborative effort to address mental health in the metro is trying to break stigmas.
Health officials from Douglas, Sarpy, Cass, and Pottawattamie counties releases the first “Call to Action” report.
It talks about lifelong impacts of “Adverse Childhood Experiences” or ACEs. They can be major risks to mental health issues later in life including childhood abuse and neglect, and exposure to violence.
Accessibility to resources is key.
“Many folks that struggle with mental health don’t go into a licensed mental health provider. They go to their primary care physician because something’s off. ‘I’m not sleeping very well, I’m not eating, I’m feeling lethargic.’ They’re having physical symptoms and as that health care provider is digging deeper they’re beginning to find that there’s a mental health connection to the physical aspects,” said Kerry Kernen with Douglas Co. Health Division of Chief Community Health.
In the next few years they hope to connect people to social supports, decrease mental health stigma, and reduce trauma.
