PEP Contributes to National News Story on America’s Youth Mental Health Crisis

On Sept. 12 PBS News Hour featured PEP and several other Ohio child-serving agencies as part of its series, “Early Warning: America’s Youth Mental Health Crisis.” The segment featured PEP CEO Habeebah Grimes and shots of a family served by PEP Connections, a Care Management Entity of Ohio Medicaid’s OhioRISE program.

The segment is entitled “Shortage of Mental Health Services for Teens Forces Parents to Take Desperate Measures,” and focuses on young people with complex developmental and mental health needs, helping them find resources and receive coordination of care that allows them to stay in the home, the schools, the communities where they live. One of the issues raised by interviewer Chris Booker was the challenge presented by mental health worker staffing shortages.

Grimes concurred, stating, “There is not a big enough workforce to address all of the clinical needs that exist on the continuum of care and that’s going to take time to get folks into that workforce pipeline. It is, indeed, a crisis.”

To learn more about PEP Connections and its role in mitigating the youth mental health crisis, visit our website. See the full PBS News Hour story here.