Iowans are pushing for legislative action over improving mental health care and accessibility in Iowa.

The Iowa Hospital Association (IHA) sent an advocacy alert on Feb. 6 urging recipients to take action for better mental health care across the state by signing a petition and calling their legislators.

The petition, which includes both individuals and organization’s signatures, states Iowa’s mental health care system is ineffective and insufficient for the state’s population.

“Iowa’s mental health care system is in crisis. Mental health treatment languishes on the edges of the care continuum as a fragmented, frustrating and sometimes deadly,” said the IHA in the email. 

Erin Baldwin, director of the Thielen Student Health Center, supports the petition sent out by IHA. She agrees with the necessity to change and create long term change with Iowa’s mental health care.

“It has been a real struggle over the last several of years,” said Baldwin. “We have seen a drastic increase of students that need mental health resources and it is really challenging to find them resources.”

These mental health resources are lacking not just in Iowa, but specifically in the Ames area.

Baldwin said Ames is underrepresented and under resourced for multiple types of health care, according to the National Health Service Corps (NHSC).

“Ames is in a shortage for both primary care and mental health,” Baldwin said. “There aren’t enough mental health care providers for our area to cover the demand.”

The resources here in Ames are slim, and Baldwin said the demand for these resources has only increased. She attributes the increase of students seeking mental health care to the increase in awareness and understanding of mental health in general.

“[The] student body is more aware of the impact of mental health and we have been able to reduce the stigma around [mental health],” Baldwin said. 

The NHSC works with practitioners to bring them to underrepresented populations through loan repayments, but Baldwin said this could change if federal legislature doesn’t continue to fund NHSC.

“A lot of the challenges I’ve seen is around trying to recruit qualified provider candidates that can provide mental health care,” Baldwin said. “There have been a lot of unfortunate decisions over the last few years [around funding mental health care].”

The IHA petition encourages Iowans to reach out to legislators and begin taking action toward better mental health care.

“At this moment, our state is at a crossroads — the choices are to continue talking or start taking action. We choose action,” said the IHA.

The petition has already received hundreds of signatures and is expected to be presented to Iowa legislation on Feb. 28.