Mental health patients have options ... for now

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Integris Behavioral Health at Meadowlake has several different methods of care for children and adolescents, said Don Henderson, director of behavioral health for Integris Bass Baptist Health Center.

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February 20, 2010

By Joe Malan, Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle The Enid News and Eagle Sat Feb 20, 2010, 10:31 PM CST

ENID — Mental health patients in Enid have a few options when they are in need of care.

Integris Behavioral Health at Meadowlake has several different methods of care for children and adolescents, said Don Henderson, director of behavioral health for Integris Bass Baptist Health Center.

“We have a 50-bed hospital for adolescents and children,” Henderson said.

Behavioral Health has 20 beds devoted to a program for children ages 13 to 17 who have an IQ between 50 and 70, Henderson said.

There also are 20 beds devoted to children between the ages of 5 and 12.

Finally, 10 beds are provided for other adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17.

Henderson said many patients at Behavioral Health are intelligent in some way and have a variety of interests, including chemistry, music and art.

“They’re extremely sharp,” he said.

One of the things Integris Behavioral Health provides is an art therapists, who help children suffering from more than one mental disorder.

Recently, an art therapist helped the children paint tennis shoes for a project.

The center also provides a music therapist.

“A lot of our kids that have a real hard time expressing themselves can do that through music when they can’t do it in any other setting,” Henderson said. “Sometimes it’s hard for them to open up. Music seems to really work.”

For adults, Northwest Center for Behavioral Health in Enid offers a variety of outpatient services, said Trudy Hoffman, executive director of Northwest Center for Behavioral Health.

Individual services included under the outpatient umbrella include psychiatric, clinics, case management and group rehabilitation and wellness services.

Northwest Center in Enid also can help some patients pay medical costs for prescriptions.

“We don’t refuse someone the ability to pay,” she said.

Hoffman said Northwest Center has two qualified psychiatric nurses who help patients in Enid.

Challenges

The mental health care profession today is not without its challenges.

“Right now the state of Oklahoma is really struggling,” Henderson said. “That makes it very difficult to be able to run a hospital of this nature in regard to budget cuts our state is looking at.”

Northwest Center Enid has been affected by state budget cuts in mental health services. Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services already has seen $16 million in budget cuts, and more may come.

Because of budgetary concerns, Hoffman said, Northwest Center will merge its psych and social rehabilitation programs with outpatient services beginning March 1.

Besides monetary problems, there’s always the challenges that come with dealing with young, mental health patients, Henderson said.

“There is an awful lot of our kids who are affected from drugs, dysfunctional families, lots of kids in abusive situations,” Henderson said. “Just about everything you can think of, our kiddos have been exposed to.

“I think that probably there are a lot of misconceptions as far as behavioral health is concerned. I think that kind of scares people.

“We can make an amazing difference in the support we provide.”

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