ELDORADO, IL (WSIL) -- Last week, a new initiative introduced by Illinois Gov. Pritzker will hopefully change how services are delivered for children dealing with their mental health.
Now, those on the front line, helping kids in southern Illinois, are speaking out about the need for more services.
"I think the recent pandemic brought a lot of light to maybe issues that were already there that we didn’t notice as much but now we see them," said Matt Buckman, executive director of the Stress and Trauma Center in Eldorado.
Ever since the COVID Pandemic � a brighter spotlight has been placed on mental health. One often-forgotten sect when it comes to dealing with Mental health � is children.
"Now we’re starting to accept that mental health issues are affecting everyone including adults, our kids' lives, and our kids, and the more we’re struggling as families, the more our kids are struggling and the more we’re struggling as communities, the more our kids are struggling," said Buckman.
Buckman puts the state of mental health services for children in our area -- into perspective.
"Unfortunately here in southern Illinois we have two to three times the rate of the number of children reported and indicated for abuse and neglect compared to the rest of the state and the nation," said Buckman. "So a lot of our kids in the community need the services like this.
Last week � Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the children’s behavioral health transformative initiative �- a comprehensive plan to transform the children’s behavioral health service system.
"We’ve been working for the last several years to try and expand capacities to provide quality services right here in southern Illinois," Buckman says.
"The main thing is to reduce the amount of burden on all these organizations in southern Illinois that are providing services because that burden continues to take away time from children and families that deserve services."
Buckman explains one of the big issues clinics like his continue to deal with is a shortage of those wanting to help.
We don’t have enough resources in our area. Unfortunately, people have to drive long distances," said Buckman. "what we need more of what affects us more is that many people in training or are in this work and come to the area, they weren’t born and raised in our area."
Buckman says, Having more people join the profession whether it’s social work, counseling, or psychology that are local � can go a long way to help others in the area.
I hope more people will join this cause and do more work to be able to help more children.
