No Cost Mental Health Care w/ Blood Work Required

Low B12 can cause psychosis, hallucinations, and paranoia. In the same way a drowning person cannot save themselves, neither can a person experiencing mental health issues be expected to improve without support. Add-in high costs to be seen and people are being forced to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol. It cost $800 for our adolescent child to see a psychologist at Carson Tahoe Behavioral Health Services for one new patient appointment WITH insurance because our deductible had not been met. We went elsewhere. Appointments were next to impossible to schedule with long gaps in availability. Again--people will turn to self-medicating; it's cheaper and always available. Poor mental health leads to job loss, homelessness, or incarceration. It will cost the taxpayer less to fund mental health services to help people get back on their feet (and working) than to pay for court costs, public defenders, and prison expenses. Additionally, lab work I had to request showed low vitamin D, low B12, and genetic testing revealed MTHFR variant meaning malabsorption of vitamins. There is a whole component of mental health, health care providers are MISSING. Low B12 can cause psychosis, hallucinations, and paranoia. Medical professionals failed to check these labs and ignored their results after I requested them. One Carson Valley Health PA laughed at my request for B12 shots for my child. Some people genetically cannot absorb vitamins via diet. It took 6 years to figure out our now adult child has endocrine issues. DO BETTER NEVADA. Treatment should be free, Nevada should be proactive in resolving issues early AND blood work should be required with vitamin deficiencies addressed properly, not ignored.