Living room, legislation among Illinois efforts to increase access to mental health care – The State Journal-Register

Editors note: This story is our first of three this week exploring mental health and highlighting some of the local efforts taking placeto improve the communitys overall mental wellness.

Taylor Blakeley uses some of the darkest moments of his life to start conversations and help people navigate mental health struggles.

Living with a mild form of cerebral palsy which affectedhis speech growing up, Blakeley was bullied throughout school. He was sexually assaulted at age 15 after which he twice attempted suicide.

"I've been in those shoes where you want to really hurt yourself and want to end your life, Blakeley said. And I realized that's not the answer. That's never the answer.

Blakeley, 29, is now the coordinator of Memorial Behavioral Healths Living Room a peer counseling center funded through a grant from the Illinois Department of Human Services.

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The Living Room which does not require people to make appointments or have insurance is one of the many steps taken locally and statewide over the last year to improveaccess to mental health care.

Other steps include a pair of bills passed during the spring legislative session that ended this week.House Bill 0576will allow students to use excused absences for mental health reasons, while House Bill 2595works to ensure all medically necessary mental health care is covered by insurers across the state. Locally,Memorial deployed a new emotional support line at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Springfield Police Departments co-responder program which works with local mental health professionals to connect people in need with resources continues to evolve.

Illinois is ranked among the bottom half 28th in Mental Health Americas 2021 Access to Care state rankings. Among the measures and where the state ranked were mental health workforce availability, rank 29th;adults with mental illness who did not receive treatment, rank 32nd; andyouth who experienced major depression and did not receive mental health services, 62.1%, rank 41st.

"A lot of work needs to be done," saidtherapist Oluwatamilore "Tami" Odimayo,who works as a clinical professional counselor and certified drug and alcohol counselor at Killian and Associates. "To get people to get treatment, we need to figure out a way to make it affordable and accessible. The majority of time, therapists work, regular hours 9to 4. But if you're worried about a paycheck, taking two hours off of work can be a big struggle. We have to figure out a whole lot of the dynamics of adaptability."

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Diagnosed with depression, anxiety and ADHD, Blakeleys last suicide attempt was at 16-years- old. He admits he did not know what he wanted to do with his life in those dark moments. It took him six years after the attempt to startlooking at colleges and toward a brighter future. Since then, he has earned bachelors and masters degrees in psychology and is working toward adoctoratein Industrial and organizational psychology.

"My journey was a pretty long process to get to where I am, said Blakeley, who oversees the Living Rooms daily operations. But it's living proof that you can have mental illness and still live a good life.

Like Blakeley, the two other peer recovery specialists who work at The Living Room have had their own mental health struggles. Using their personal journeys as a way to connect, they each provide people in crisis with free support.

When somebody comes in here, it's more like a living room," Blakeley explained. "It's a home-based feeling, a safe atmosphere you can come to instead of a clinical setting where you go see a counselor therapist.

Sinceopening in November, more than 500 peoplehave taken advantage of the centers services, which are availablefrom noon until 8 p.m. Monday through Friday at 710 N. Eighth St.

While Blakeley and his teamfocus on the strengths a person has in order to help them through a challenging moment, there are times where a persons need extends beyond their guidance.

In those severe crisis cases,the person is typically referred to the hospital for evaluation.

With the Senate passing House Bill 2595,access to mental health care treatment at a hospital or other clinical setting will become more readily available to those who are insured. The legislation amends theIllinois InsuranceCode and requires all health plans in the state follow a general set ofstandards for mental health care and addiction treatment.

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There's clearly elevated need for care in vulnerable communities and populations are being disproportionately impacted, said David Applegate, who is the director of state policy at The Kennedy Forum Illinois. But it is these same communities that are oftentimes least equipped to fight back when their insurer denies them the needed treatment.

Calls to Memorial Behavioral Health's emotional support line show the need. More than 2,000 calls were received from peopleexperiencing anxiety or stress in thefirst year.

We have to treat mental health conditions the same way that we treat other conditions, said Bill Smith, founder of the mental health policy advocacy nonprofit, Inseparable. All we're asking for in this law is to say that health is health and to treat mental health the same way we're treating other health conditions."

Coming Thursday: The Springfield Police Department is devoting more time to mental health in an effort to improve crisis response.

Contact Natalie Pierreatnpierre@gannett.com or on Twitter @NataliePierre_.

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Living room, legislation among Illinois efforts to increase access to mental health care - The State Journal-Register