SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
The Sacramento County Department of Public Health is seeing an uptick of people experiencing depression and anxiety, according to a county health official.
Dr. Ryan Quist, behavioral health director for county health, said the increase is related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s been a lot of changes to everyone’s routines... and anytime we have changes to those we can experience stress, anxiety and depression. We’ve been talking about life-threatening illness on the regular, so that constant reminder adds to the stress,” Quist said.
Quist spoke to ABC10 about how to cope with isolation and Sacramento County’s mental health resources.
ABC10: What can people do to stay connected to one another?
Dr. Ryan Quist: Sacramento County is recommending that everybody reach out three times a day to have meaningful connections with one another. It’s good for you and it’s good for the people you reach out to.
One of the important concepts we have in behavioral health is mindfulness. The basic concept is to be aware of how your body is reacting. You're paying attention to if you’re feeling agitated, upset or withdrawn. Recognize that’s normal. Everybody is experiencing these types of feelings right now. The important thing is to have a plan for when you’re feeling stressed. What types of activities make you feel better and less stressed -- going on a walk, calling your parents, reaching out to a friend, doing some exercise or making a meal.
When should people seek help if they’re having a hard time mentally?
When your emotional reactions are getting beyond your own ability to take care of them, please reach out for help. Behavioral health services are essential services. We remain open for business and you don’t have to come into one of our offices. We have quickly converted our services to telephone and video telehealth services. We can still support you. You can call your insurance provider to ask for a referral for behavioral health services. If you have Medical, please reach out to the county. It’s important to seek services when you need services.
Is the department seeing an increase in people seeking services?
We’ve seen a dramatic reduction in the number of people who are reaching out for services, especially youth. Youth 21 years and younger, we’re seeing a really dramatic drop less than half of the normal number of referrals that we get for people seeking services. Normally youth have a lot of eyes on them from staff, teachers at school. So when things start going wrong, someone notices and can make those referrals. Right now we’re not seeing those referrals, so my concern is that people aren’t seeking services at the time they need those services. They’re letting things get worse, letting the stress build up and then eventually it comes to the point where they’re going to need to seek crisis services. We want to see people get services early and often.
We have plenty of capacity for youth right now. Our referrals for adults are down by about 10%. We’re still able to meet the needs of adults as well.
To access behavioral health services through the Sacramento County Public Health call (916) 875-1055 or toll free (888) 881-4881.
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