Help Remove the Stigma from Mental Health Care

The following guest column by Gulf Coast President/CEO Mark Pritchett appeared in the May 15 edition of SRQ Daily:

Great news arrived in my email on Thursday. The CDC formally declared that if you have been vaccinated, you may resume activities that you did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a pivotal turning point to return to a normal life for our community, workplaces, and schools.

However, for many in Sarasota and across the country, the emotional and mental health effects of the pandemic will linger until they seek help. The impact of COVID-19 has fueled a distressing rise in anxiety and depression among teenagers. A recent two-part story from Health News Florida and a May/June feature in SRQ Magazine detail this toll while shining a spotlight on resources and programs that are trying to help.

And it’s not only our youth who are struggling. Nor is it just the incidence of mental-health conditions that is on the rise. Multiple experts on a Sarasota Tiger Bay Club webinar last week reported an even more alarming increase in the acuity of mental-health cases in our region. That’s across all demographics—age, ethnicity, financial standing. Amid the dual health and economic crises in which we’ve been mired, what was a mild case is now a severe one. What was a severe case is now a crisis.

Read the rest of Mark's column in SRQ Daily.