Utah faces many behavioral health challenges similar to other predominantly rural states in the nation, such as limited health services and high substance abuse rates. Check out this news roundup for a look at significant behavioral health issues in Utah and the efforts to address them.
Utah Mental Health Declines
Data from the most recent County Health Rankings, released by the University of Wisconsin, shows that Utah residents report slightly lower mental health than the national average. The number of “poor mental health days” that Utahns experienced were 4.7, compared to 4.4 nationally. This is up from 4.4 in 2021, and the first time that Utah’s rate of poor mental health days was above the national average since 2019.
Mental Health Program Targets Utah Farmers
The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF), in partnership with USU Extension Ag Wellness, has launched the Ag Stress Assistance Program. This program aims to help address problems unique to the state’s farmers, such as volatile markets and stressful working conditions.
The program offers free behavioral healthcare vouchers of up to $2,000 per individual. Other resources include educational mental health workshops and rural-specific training for suicide and crisis hotline operators.
New Utah Laws Target Kids’ Social Media Use
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox recently signed into law two bills that hold social media companies accountable for the use of their apps among minors. According to Cox, SB152 requires companies to verify that Utah-based users are 18 or older to open a social media account, or have parental consent.
The other bill, HB311, prohibits social media companies from using features that can cause addiction to the platform among minors. It also makes it easier for users to sue those companies for damages. Under the bill, addiction refers to the “use of a social media platform that: (a) indicates the user’s substantial preoccupation or obsession with, or the user’s substantial difficulty to cease or reduce use of, the social media platform; and (b) causes physical, mental, emotional, developmental, or material harms to the user.”
Critics of the new laws say that they do not address many other problems associate with minors’ use of social media, such as oversharing and data harvesting. They also may not apply to new apps that may be invented, or apps and websites that are not primarily social media platforms, but have social media elements to them.
Utah Colleges Partner to Address Rural Prescription Painkiller Abuse
The University of Utah’s College of Nursing and School of Medicine are leading a consortium of seven healthcare institutions and agencies to help prevent and treat substance addiction in rural areas of the state. It has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration. UROHC-CCM will help train collaborative care teams to deliver addiction treatment at family practice clinics, offer mental health first aid training to emergency responders, and provide other resources.
Mental health declines and rising substance misuse are creating high demand for behavioral health services in Utah. The appropriate tools, such as BestNotes EHR software, can help streamline your operations so you can serve more clients with better results. Contact us today for more information.