More than 1200 patients suffering from mental health issues check into Inova Health System Emergency Rooms every month, says Dr. Linda Lang, a psychiatrist and Inova’s president of the Behavioral Health Service Line. “50 percent of the 1200 get discharged to the community and we have to find resources for them and another 50% get admitted because they’re in a higher level of crisis,” she explained. They might have depression, anxiety, or fear they want to harm themselves.
Dr. Lang added, “Our inpatient behavioral health units. are at full capacity. We are facing similar constraints across our community providers as well. So, we're really all in this together and our community has to figure out how to address the mental health crisis that we're in. I can't think of a time over the last three years that I've been in practice where the crisis has been this great.”
Now at least some local patients who admit they need help can find assistance at Inova Cares’ new Clinic for Behavioral Health, where Dr. Lang shared her concerns. The clinic, formally opened in November at the Inova Loudoun Hospital Cornwall Campus (211 Gibson St., NW, Suite 220), will provide adult mental health counseling services to those struggling with symptoms of mild to moderate mental health conditions. Services include individual therapy services on a weekly or biweekly schedule for a limited time, defined as short-term, goal-directed therapy for 10-12 sessions – at least time to determine what other services or medication might help patients heal. The clinic also provides telemedicine appointments for those who can’t attend in person, and provides referrals to community resources and primary care services.
“Opening our first Inova Cares Clinic for Behavioral Health is a direct response to the 2022 Loudoun Community Health Needs Assessment which identified mental health as a top community need,” said Karen Berube, Chief, Community Health & Health Equity with the Inova Health System.
At the clinic’s launch, the small training room, named for donor Debbie Piland with the O’Shaughnessy-Hurst Memorial Foundation which contributed to its funding, was packed with local political representatives and non-profit care-givers. None was more passionate about the mental health needs of Loudoun County than Loudoun Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall, who was herself a mental health and substance abuse therapist in the prison system before entering public service.
Adding to the overall picture of the local mental health crisis, Chair Randall said law enforcement officials typically respond to 10 calls per week caused by someone with a mental health disorder. “We don’t say that enough because mental health issues are stigmatized and minimized and because of that, by the time you hit an emergency room or a clinic the acuteness of your disorder is much higher that it would have otherwise been.” The pandemic deepened the crisis because of its accompanying isolation and what she called the “collective trauma” everyone experienced, similar to after 9/11.
She first urged everyone to “contact your state officials and say that we need to reopen our state hospitals. That's what has to happen.” Beyond that, everyone needs to discuss the issue and “destigmatize this disease. Until we do that, it’s not going to get better and we’re going to lose people we don’t need to be losing every single day.” Public-private partnerships are key, she noted, as did Inova officials who were quick to thank donors Mike and Teresa Wheeler and Patti and John Sinnen. A spokesperson for Inova said “often donors don’t want the amount [of their gift] disclosed, and that is the case for this project,” but Debbi Piland, one of our loyal readers shared that the O’Shaughnessy-Hurst Memorial Foundation for its part made a grant commitment of $150,000.
Because not enough attention is paid to such donations – perhaps because of the participants’ reluctance to go public – we dug deeper and learned that the O’Shaughnessy-Hurst Memorial Foundation was started in 1986 with funds from the estate of Charlie and Mary O’Shaughnessy, from the Bailey’s Crossroads section of Fairfax County. “It’s a small foundation whose mission is to improve the quality of life, health, education and welfare in Northern Virginia,” Debbi said. “At the same time, we make every attempt to be responsive to evolving community needs such as the recent COVID-19 outbreak.”
In the past, the Foundation also has made grants to expand Cloverleaf Therapeutic Riding (formerly Northern Virginia Therapeutic Riding), to build a birthing center for the Fauquier Hospital, to partially fund the Falls Church Children's Center, to Inova, to the Loudoun County Bar Association Law Camp, George Mason University, 89 Ways To Give, A Place To Be, Catholic Charities, and Faith and Family, among others. It also made a grant through the Community Foundation of Loudoun and lower Fauquier County to partially fund a state-of-the-art vocational school in Winchester.
Said Debbi, “The Foundation is very sensitive to the mental health crisis in our country today. It impacts people at all ages and stages of life. Even with good health insurance, a person is not assured of being able to obtain quality mental health care -- much less people with fewer resources. This grant was a no-brainer for us, and we are very proud to be a small part of a huge benefit for our community.”
Call 703-779-5480 for the Clinic or read more about a resource for teens who may have thoughts of self-harm on p. x.
Clinic Patient Criteria:
Adults 18 years of age and older
Mid-to moderate mental health needs (e.g. anxiety, depression, grief)
Uninsured and eligible or approved for Inova Financial Assistance
Virginia Medicaid Coverage
Does not include medication management or care for patients with severe, chronic mental illness or emergency mental health services