Leaders from the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County held a news conference Tuesday to share information on a new task force to address the shortage of mental health providers serving young people.
Watch the complete news conference below:
The Sprint Task Force will focus on how government leaders can increase access to mental health care, especially for youth and young adults.
The announcement took place during a round table session at the employment agency "Ohio Means Jobs."
The task force will be responsible for creating an "advocacy agenda" for local leaders, outlining how they can better support and expand mental health services in their communities. The formation of the agenda will happen over the next six months.
Those in attendance at the news conference included:
- Cleveland Mayor Justin M. Bibb
- Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne
- OhioMeansJobs Cleveland Cuyahoga County Executive Director Michelle Rose
- ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County
- Cleveland Department of Public Health
- Cleveland Metropolitan School District
- Cuyahoga County Health & Human Services
- Invest in Children
- Murtis Taylor Human Services System
- NewBridge
- Northeast Ohio Medical University
- Positive Education Program
- Local and regional philanthropic partners
On Aug 4, Janet Reyes was hit and killed when teenagers driving a stolen KIA crashed into her car. In July, a group of 21 teens were arrested for brutally beating a man at a gas station at E. 140th Street and St. Clair Avenue.
"We believe that addressing the issues around youth mental health will go a long way to reducing violent crime in our city," said Bibb.
The task force agenda will focus on six specific areas: equitable pay for mental health workers, loan forgiveness, professional capacity building, simplification of license certification, diversity and integrated behavioral health care.
"Approximately at this point, 5% of psychologists are black. And then that's all of us. That's those who are in academia, those who are in private practice and those who are serving communities our city is saying are underserved," said Dr. Tyffani Monford Dent, a Cleveland psychologist.
"When I took office last year, I began to have quarterly conversations with students across the district. And I remember asking this one question among the students: 'Raise your hand if you would want to have a therapist. Would you take up on that offer?' Every kid raised their hand," said Mayor Bibb.
In 2021, CDC data reported 37% of high school students felt they had poor mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fourty-four percent reported they persistently felt sad or hopeless during the past year.
"Now, we are still seeing our kids struggle after the height of the pandemic. We have a lot of work to do; we need more people to do it," said Dent.
As school starts back up, Dent suggests checking in with young people proactively before they act out.
Dent continued, "Provide them with healthier ways to cope; we have to do it from a prevention and early intervention standpoint, and again, not just care when they're stealing cars."
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