Mental Health Challenges A Lasting Pandemic Impact On North Shore

MARBLEHEAD, MA — As many tangible signs of the coronavirus health crisis begin to fade away in the upcoming months, the hidden repercussions of extended anxiety, isolation and loss will be the challenge of mental health care for many years to come.

Those have been the repeated warnings of mental health advocates who caution a summer without masks and social distancing may only thinly veil the especially harsh toll the pandemic has taken on adolescents, teens, single parents and seniors.

"Mental health issues have exploded because of the isolation people have felt during the pandemic," Tim Phillips, co-president of the Board of Directors at the Marblehead Counseling Center, told Patch. "It's been an uneven impact among young people, people of color and seniors, and it's been a significant issue. The anxiety around the whole period has been enhanced and people are seeking help."

Only meeting that increasing demand for help has not been so easy.

Coronavirus-related restrictions made traditional one-on-one therapy sessions challenging for a year. With many of those restrictions now expiring, social service providers like the Marblehead Counseling Center face a dearth of clinicians and funding shortfalls when it comes to finding qualified professionals who can help the wave of neighbors, classmates, relatives and friends experiencing mental health struggles.

As part of Mental Health Awareness month, Phillips and the MCC are hoping to draw attention to the daunting landscape they face and the increased state and federal resources they say will be needed to combat the mental health aftermath of COVID-19.

"We have a large waitlist," Phillips said. "Several hundred people, actually. We are trying to close that gap but the demand is so high that it’s difficult for us."

(YOU ARE NOT ALONE: If in need of help, call the National Alliance for Mental Illness at 1-800-950-NAMI. In a crisis, text "NAMI" to 741741.)

Phillips said the MCC has made some progress infusing youth into the Board of Directors so they can better understand the unique perspective of young parents and children seeking mental health therapy at much higher levels than ever before. But he added that while telehealth services helped during the heart of the pandemic, children do far better when seen in person and most cities and towns don't have the infrastructure at community centers like Marblehead's to handle the volume of those seeking assistance that he said could last years.

"We are trying to treat people in the greatest need as quickly as we can," he said. "But it's a tall order. I wouldn't say we're exceptional at it because we haven't really closed that gap on demand."

He said that while the town has always been very supportive of the MCC in its 50-year history, that alone won't be enough to meet the task at hand. He said state and federal officials must start thinking about the types of funding that went toward physical needs in the heart of the pandemic and reallocate them toward mental health services as society transitions to a post-pandemic era.

"It's exploding in ways we've never seen before," he said. "We don't know all the long-term effects this will have on kids, young adults, health-care workers. It could take years to determine that.

"Kids are different these days. They have more arms and legs out there. The stress of how missing a year of school impacts them getting into college, or as an athlete, if that will cost them a scholarship, things like that are causing anxiety.

"The way the environment is today puts more pressure on our kids. That's not a good thing. They need an outlet. Maybe that's social services. Maybe that's a coach. It's got to be more than parents because now you have two parents working. Dealing with mental health is so much harder than dealing with physical health because it's a gray area."

He said one thing the MCC has tried is to recruit interns with the promise of paying for the licensing and certification they will need to become full clinicians. But Phillips said programs such as that will require more support.

The Marblehead Selectmen's Community Golf Day on Aug. 2 at Tedesco Country Club will benefit the MCC. Phillips said the tournament had 120 people — but only seven women — in 2019 and that they are looking to increase the number of women involved significantly this summer.

He said that while traditional counseling will continue to be a big part of treating mental health, broader reach programs such as group therapy sessions or social running groups for young people will be needed to help make sure any anxiety that built up during the hard times of 2020 can be managed as part of healthy and functioning mental outlook years into the future.

"We are going to have to be consistent from a government perspective so we at least have the tools," he said. "The hope is to creatively engage people in a time of need so they can live happy and sustainable lives."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)