Out Boulder County gets to The Point for mental health services

Last year nearly 5.8 million people nationwide who identify as LGBTQ+ reported struggling with mental illness in 2020 according to the Mental Health America website. Of those, youth and individuals who identify as bisexual and transgender are the most prone to having mental health concerns. 

To address these concerns, Out Boulder County, or OBC, is introducing a new mental health access program called The Point. The Point will provide short-term access to mental health services for income-qualified and MediCare/Medicaid members of the LGBTQ+ community. The program is being coordinated by Out Boulder County, in collaboration with Umbrella Collective and Field Therapy.

“There are two pandemics we’ve been facing: COVID and mental health. The mental health crisis has been going on for a while but it was exacerbated by COVID,” said OBC Executive Director Mardi Moore.

The program has been in development for nine months, conceived by Moore after she learned of two deaths by suicide of members of the LGBTQ community within the span of a week. A survey from OBC and Unwoven Ventures looking at the impacts of COVID on Boulder County’s LGBTQ community from June 2021 revealed a number of barriers to accessing mental health services — cost, lack of available therapists or LGBTQ affirming therapists and community members feeling too overwhelmed to seek support.

According to Moore, some patients could wait months for therapists to have availability after initial intake appointments. In addition, Moore said, the community has concerns about whether the care system will work for them or could be trusted to provide affirming care for trans or LGBTQ folks. Another issue is the language barrier and access to services for undocumented immigrants who may be income-qualified but cannot access Medicare.

“Our program is hopefully going to be a solution for all these situations,” Moore said.

OBC has helped compile a list of providers that take Medicaid and are willing to partner with The Point, according to Moore. The providers undergo a lengthy screening and vetting process to assure their qualifications, Moore said.

“I think it’s really important to have LGBTQ-competent providers and LGBTQ community members who are also providers doing this work,” said Sam Field of Field Therapy.

In addition to Field’s work as a therapist, she also works as a consultant for diversity, equity and inclusion training. Programs like The Point can help foster health, wellness and inclusion for as many people as possible so that the underserved communities don’t act in isolation, instead getting support from trained experts and allies outside the community, according to Field. 

Field has seen how a negative experience in physical or mental health can create trauma and build a barrier when seeking care services for clients. The Point will work to restore trust in mental health services by referring clients to providers that are inclusive, affirming and LGBTQ-competent, Field said.

A program like The Point hasn’t existed like this in the county and the program will continue to evolve to serve the needs of the community, according to Moore.

“We are not intending to be another mental health clinic,” Field said. “There are a lot of wonderful partners and centers in the Boulder County area. We’re here to be a collaborative partner and we ultimately want to refer to existing LGBTQ therapists and centers in the area.”

Field said OBC needed a mental health component to address outreach from the community seeking affirming care beyond referrals. The Point will act as an intermediary and entry point for therapy and case management services for LGBTQ adults who are uninsured and income-qualified or already receiving Medicare. The Point is not intended to be a crisis line or provide long-term care, instead serving as a stop-gap measure for those in the LGBTQ community that face those barriers to mental health services.

There are 15 available slots per week through The Point with a goal of connecting patients with access to long-term mental health services. According to Field, the program will try to grow and remain flexible to meet the needs of the community.

The Point officially launches November 1, but OBC and its partners have opened up pre-screening options already, either online or through direct email outreach. The pre-screening form is available in English and Spanish. Bilingual support through The Point is a fundamental concept of the program, Moore said, to open access to more underserved communities.

“We spent a lot of time thinking about how to do this right. People’s mental health deserves quality care and the program we put together, we believe wholeheartedly that has been kept in mind,” Moore said “We will continue to improve upon what’s put in place and we can only do that when people participate in the program.”