With wait lists, cost barriers, and a lack of providers, it can often take months to get help if diagnosed with anxiety or depression. Now, a local healthcare system is working to connect patients to resources faster.
UW Health Services is creating a program called "Collaborative Care" to do just that.
Dr. Haley Humphrey, a psychologist with UW Health, says it's a streamlined approach where primary care doctors can introduce patients to a mental health professional during that same appointment.
“They’re already kind of setting us up for success,” said Humphrey. “Rather than patients having to get on a waitlist or call and set up that appointment with somebody that they have no knowledge of, they do that right here in our clinics.”
After the initial introduction, a patient can set up an appointment with that mental health professional within two weeks — a process that usually can take up to six months.
Along with taking away a barrier of uncertainty for patients, Humphrey says the program is also a type of preventative care.
“By giving folks the tools and allowing them to help integrate those in their lives every single day, it is preventing those severe mental health symptoms from setting in where it’s then affecting work, or school or those other pieces of their everyday life,” she explained.
The program sees patients 12 years old and up with the goal of providing well-rounded health support that people feel comfortable with.
“Just to feel, as a patient, that you have a treatment team that’s all working together is such a good feeling.”
UW Health Systems hopes this collaborative approach with mental health expands to other areas in the medical field so patients are being connected to quality professionals faster and are able to take better care of every part of themselves.
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