Provide adequate mental health services

Nevada has been ranked 51st in the US for it’s dismal access to and provision of mental health services for 11 consecutive years; our rankings by Mental Health America are worst for children’s and adolescent’s services, with Nevada historically sending children out of state for help. Over the past 40 years, economic downturns have been “solved” by cutting mental health services. Ideas vetted to “solve” the problem lean toward having less qualified providers, allowing insurance companies to determine what medications are best, having politicians acknowledge our “mental health crisis,” but failing to adequately fund our system. With four active psychiatry residency programs in Nevada, graduating up to 30 new psychiatrists annually, the critical question is why nearly all of them leave Nevada when they finish and opt to practice elsewhere? If we have a shortage of psychiatrists in Nevada, it is not because we failed to train enough, we cannot keep them in Nevada. What can be done to make coming to Nevada to train, staying in Nevada to practice psychiatry, a reality?