Rotary Club Member Details Mental Health Options for Substance Abuse

Columbia-Patuxent Rotarian Beth Harbinson told her fellow club members at a recent meeting that there’s help for persons facing mental health and substance challenges. She spoke from experience as a member of the Opioid Crisis Community Council for seven years, working with local government to allocate Opioid Restitution Fund dollars coming into Howard County from various settlements.

She said that 84% of people suffering from substance use disorder also have a co-occurring mental health challenge. It’s important that both are diagnosed together, because frequently someone gets a diagnosis for one but doesn't get help for the other. One of Howard County’s first resources is Grassroots, which has turned into a 24/7 crisis support center offering guidance for help with substance abuse or mental health disorders. They also have a crisis mobilization unit that can come out if someone is not physically able to get there.

A national hotline - accessible by calling 988 - can aid anyone who's feeling lonely, depressed, suicidal, someone who is using drugs or alcohol, and who thinks they might have a problem and need resources. “It really is an amazing hotline,” Beth said. “It's also just a place where you can call in the middle of the night if you're feeling uncertain about what's going on, and you have someone on the other end (to listen). It's also anonymous.”

In Maryland, 988 has partnerships across 80+ local organizations and is part of a statewide strategy integrating clinics and referral networks. Behavioral Health at the Howard County Health Department has a wealth of resources including peer recovery support that can help young people relate to persons who “look like them and who have been through what they’ve been through,” as Beth explained. “Sometimes getting someone to talk to a peer is a really great way to kind of open the door.”

Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical Center now has emergency room peers to talk with patients who are either under the influence or want to get further help. The center’s new psychiatric unit has 16 beds, soon to be 24, for emergency cases. Beth said there are some great specialized programs available through the criminal justice system, including an opioid response and overdose prevention unit that does Narcan training on how to use the overdose reversal drug.

There are a lot of residential and day treatment options in the county and lots of recovery housing options. There is Sheppard Pratt psychiatric urgent care facility in Elkridge, and the James’ Place nonprofit that raises money to support people who are going into recovery housing that they otherwise can't afford. Howard County public schools have added counselors for youth while Howard Community College also has free counseling and support for students.

Beth recommended three steps to help address substance abuse and mental health disorders: (1) know the numbers to call for help; (2) take a Mental Health First Aid course to learn how you can most effectively relate to and support someone going through a mental health or substance use disorder crisis; and (3) help end the stigma that addiction is a moral failure. “It doesn't discriminate. It is a disease defined by the AMA,” Beth said. “I think the more we talk about it, and the more open we can be about it, the more we dispel that myth.”

Columbia-Patuxent Rotary is the largest and most active of the seven Rotary clubs in Howard County.