New mental health treatment site helps connect patients with quality care
Hoosiers struggling with substance abuse disorder have a new free tool to utilize to help connect with qualified care professionals and facilities to aid with in recovery.
Indiana has joined five other states including New York, West Virginia, Massachusetts and Louisiana that participate in TreatmentAtlas.org, a site connecting users to qualified care professionals and facilities through a simple question and answer interface. Washington, Pennsylvania and Connecticut also are expected to join.
“It’s part of a national movement to get all these states on board for some kind of standardized provider list,” Dawn Pelc, executive director of the Hub Coalition Porter County, said. The more states that belong, the more providers and facilities become available to users, she said.
Hub Coalition Porter County is designated by the State of Indiana as the lead agency to provide programs and services that address mental health, substance use disorder and the unintended consequences associated with use such as social, economic, financial, legal, and long-term mental and physical impairments such as suicide; dual-diagnosis such as psychosis and THC vaping; homelessness; incarceration; and cost of treatment.
According to the Indiana Department of Health, 27.8 people per 100,000 in 2020 died from a drug overdose to due any opioid like opium, heroin, natural/semi-synthetic opioids, methadone, synthetic opioids (fentanyl/tramadol), other narcotics that are obtained through prescriptions or illicitly made/purchased.
Indiana’s Department of Mental Health and Addiction certifies the validity of the treatment centers on the site. Once the provider is admitted to participate on the site, there will be a profile about the levels of care and a link to the website.
“The people, even families, trying to get into treatment centers are very vulnerable. They might make a misstep as far as seeking a proper facility. There are centers that are ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ since people are so vulnerable,” Pelc said.
Once a person does get into the platform, it will lead them on different paths through a series of assessment questions. Through the series of self-assessment questions, the site will determine what the best treatment option and will provide references for actual verified facilities.
The site also has a review function, similar to Yelp. Once 20 reviews are collected, prospective patients will be able to read the review to help them determine if that center is the best for them, Pelc said.
“For those familiar with Open Bed platform to determine the capacity at a certain location, this portal will complement the searches to help Hoosiers find the best quality of care,” Pelc said.
Tricia Abbot with the National Alliance on Mental Illness Lake County said getting proper help sometimes can be very difficult. Often mental health issues and addiction issues are intertwined. If individuals encounter enough barriers when seeking the help they need, it could be enough to stop them from trying to get help.
The site asks concrete questions specific to addiction to help people navigate their care search.
“In terms of addiction issues, this is a great tool. It follows a format many people are used to doing,” Abbot said. “It sort of walks you through it if you don’t have a clue where to start.”
