Transcription
0:00:00
All right, another happy New Year guest on the program, someone we’ve talked to before from an organization that’s been a spectacular resource for the award winning for the people over the years. I’m talking about McCall Behavioral Health Network. Joy Pandola is back with us. She’s the chief clinical officer. And we are sending our gratitude to the Cigna Group Foundation. And congratulations to McCall Behavioral Health Network.
0:00:30
Network for successfully receiving another round of grant funds, this time in excess of $101 ,000, to continue in the process of addressing youth mental health, self -harm, and substance use issues. We’re going to talk all about that how they’re going to apply that grant and some of the trends that Joy and her team are seeing at McCall that may be involving a young person that you love in your family, your classroom, or your community. But first, we want to talk about another issue that’s going on. We see it everywhere in the news. We hear about it everywhere. I’m talking about weight loss supplements.
0:01:17
According to Better Business Bureau serving Connecticut, when it comes to New Year’s resolutions, scammers know that losing weight and getting in shape is one of the most popular goals. This popularity has led to a slew of scams involving vitamins, supplements, and weight loss drugs, all claiming to offer rapid results. Not only are these products themselves questionable, but so are the business dealings of the companies peddling them. If you’d like to Avoid weight loss scams. BBB recommends that you always be wary of advertisements and customer endorsements promising miracle results or immediate weight loss. Don’t be quick to trust those endorsements.
0:01:56
Avoid products that claim to help lose weight without diet or exercise. Check a product’s ingredients with the FDA online and online research for the company you’re doing business with can be completed at BBB . org before you purchase. And if you do find that you’ve been victim of a scam, re -report that scam or any deceptive ads that you might see through the BBB scam tracker. All right, Joy, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate you and all your team there at McCall Behavioral Health Network.
0:02:33
And good news, when you get a nice grant to do important work, even better news when you get another one that not only allows you to continue that good work, but expand it. And that’s where this Cigna Group Foundation Next Round Grant comes in, right?
0:02:58
Right.
0:02:58
And John, so nice to be with you. And we are so grateful to the Cigna Group Foundation. You’re right, they had previously awarded us a sizable grant, which allowed us to expand our child and adolescent services in Waterbury. We wouldn’t have been able to do that without that support. And then we’re so grateful and pleasantly surprised that when we applied again, they gave us an additional $100 ,000 to expand our staffing so that we could provide even more services in both Waterbury and Torrington where our child and adolescent services are held.
0:03:39
So let’s talk about the new programming as an extension of the grant that you had already received from this foundation which allowed you to sort of get this whole ball rolling.
0:03:56
Yes. What the second grant afforded us, the most recent one, it’s afforded us to expand services within the area of, you know, greater Litchfield County and Waterbury. There is pretty much a consistent trend where for child and adolescent mental health services, there’s usually, especially outpatient, there’s usually wait times. Obviously there’s costs involved. And then when there’s ever a need for medication, those waits could be months if you could find a resource at all. So what this grant has allowed us to do is add an additional clinician who splits her time between Waterbury and Torrington to provide outpatient services.
0:04:40
So that helps with access and also, you know, with those particular needs of early intervention and intervention before things get to a crisis point.
0:04:53
And it also allowed us to expand our medication management and psychiatric services, uh, to child and adolescents so that we could provide that med management for them as well, which is often a service that’s also very difficult to access. So, uh, looking at the statistics, uh, in the past seven years, youth mental health conditions that have been able to be identified have increased almost 30%.
0:05:22
Does this match the trending that you’re seeing at McCall? It certainly does. And that trend is actually across the board. It’s with adults as well. That’s, you know, mental health needs have increased, but particularly for child and adolescents, we have seen, you know, an increase in need of services. Of course, and increase in severe.
0:05:50
as well, you know, self -harm, suicide ideation, substance use disorders. And there aren’t a lot of services in the area for adolescents dealing with all of these issues at, you know, an outpatient level of care. So we’re doing our best to fill those gaps. And this grant has certainly helped.
0:06:15
And we’re hoping that it doesn’t just improve access that also helps in avoiding higher levels of care, hospitalizations, crisis emergencies, so that we can actually improve the course before it gets to that point. Or on the other end of things, if they have had a crisis were utilized, um very frequently with urgent care and with hospitals to be that step down resource for for kids and uh taking that to the to the next step i imagine a lot of that uh has to do with why you are applying this expertise at McCall Behavioral Health to young people as young as eight years old, getting ahead of a chronic situation that has settled in, so to speak, to an older individual in their mid to late teens. Let’s talk a little bit about how you folks are looking at treating and supporting kids that are, you know, 8, 9, 10 years old who may not even really have solid memories of the COVID era versus those 15, 16, 17 whose lives may have fundamentally been changed
0:07:44
due to the experiences that they had during COVID. Yes, I think, you know, the approach for a younger child in treatment is quite different from how you would treat, you know, you have to consider those developmental, you know, differences. But to your point, John, you know, even just life, life was very different for somebody who’s currently 16 and remembers COVID and remembers that interruption in their social life, in their school life. And, you know, many things were put to a halt and how much their lives may be online versus, you know, otherwise, whereas somebody who’s, you know, a kid who’s eight, nine, 10 years old, you know, we’re relying a great deal on engaging those caregivers, those parents, and to support them in the developmental stage they are with whatever issues. that they are having, you know, with mental health, you know, early on. And then coming up with those skills, not only for the child, but also the caregivers, how to support them and really, you know, address them so that they’re not ongoing chronic issues as they move forward in their lives.
0:09:04
And I think that’s the key, you know, and I’m such an advocate for, you know, with substance use as well, you know, most people start using substances in their teens who then develop a substance use disorder. It’s a good 90 % start. So I’ve always been such an advocate of early intervention and intervention in adolescents because you could really prevent, you know, a chronic condition to, you know, progress.
0:09:34
You know, it’s a much more serious issue, you know, 10, 20, 30 years down the road.
0:09:39
Well McCall’s an innovator in that respect because you are among the scant few, if many other agencies like yours, in realizing and embracing the need to support the youngest of our Connecticut and your jurisdictional residents with substance abuse education and prevention. Yes, there are very few organizations that treat adolescents with mental health and substance use disorders, and we do it on the outpatient and intensive outpatient basis. There are very few. I’ve been in the field for almost 30 years, and there’s less treatment options for adolescents now than there was 20 years ago, believe it or not.
0:10:33
And we really are filling that gap in the area and you know, we get referrals from you know other organizations from schools like I said hospitals urgent care because we do have We do cater our treatment to co -occurring disorders So, you know whether you have a you know, a substance use disorder a mental health disorder or both We can accommodate you and and treat that.
0:10:58
Mm -hmm something else that really changes over the course of a young person’s aging between 8 and 17, the period during which McCall is focusing on for a lot of this expanding support, is the utilization and the impact that things like the Internet and social networks have on these young people’s lives. Of course, of course. And I think it’s it’s isolated. kids more. than ever before. But I also, I really try to put myself in, you know, a kid’s today’s shoes.
0:11:42
I couldn’t imagine, you know, having this online life and this real world life. and basically anything that I may post, a thought, a feeling, a picture to get, you know, constant feedback and opinions from people I know and people I don’t know. And what kind of pressure that puts on, you know, a kid in regards to that socialization and that development. I can only imagine how stressful that is, but how, you know, that just really kind of reinforces you know, a sense of self in different ways. It could morph into, you know, so many other issues that may come down the line around identity and self -worth. but also just how often people are online, kids especially, and not developing those social skills, those communication skills in real life and activities that maybe are more in a group setting.
0:12:48
That changes folks’ ability to communicate and socialize and develop those skills, especially in those developmental stages.
0:12:57
So I think it’s very impactful. In the last few minutes that we have with you, Joy, please reach out to the extent that we can to parents, caregivers, educators, loved ones. Let them know what you’re seeing on the front lines and what they should be looking for in terms of behavioral or other issues tied to their young people in their lives between the ages of
0:13:30
and 17 that might be able to be assisted through McCall Behavioral Health Network? Sure, John. I mean, we talked about some of the, you know, big things, you know, post -pandemic, you know, certainly online activity and life, but those are some undercurrent stressors. But I think Generally, we’re seeing in this age group when kids, just a higher potential for stress, whether that be family stress or school stress or social stressors, and maybe not developing, like I said, or having that support network built in because of some of these factors that have happened. So I think, you know, if you see, you know, a kid who’s under a lot of stress or duress or speaking about that, if you see somebody, you know, changing and withdrawing more from activities or socially, or if you see just real changes in a child, I think those are all telltale signs that something is going on. And, you know, we have an access point of our primary care contact number 860 -496 -2100.
0:14:52
That phone number is manned pretty much 60 hours a week, Monday through Friday, with live people who will take information, schedule appointments, and get you in with services as soon as possible. We do have child and adolescent specialists who will certainly help navigate resources and services. We will do a full assessment to determine, you know, what your child’s needs are. And like I said, we have outpatient,
0:15:24
we have outpatient individual, family, group, and then our intensive outpatient services and medication management, both in, like I said, Torrington and Waterbury. Very good. And before we say farewell, let folks know what else is on your agenda in terms of the role that you’re playing with McCall Behavioral Health Network.
0:15:53
What are some of the other things that you have made resolutions to address or improve in 2026? I think, you know, we’re also looking at other Addictions, including online addictions, gambling addictions, those are things that actually now with online gaming are becoming increasingly more of an issue for younger people. So that’s something that we’re definitely looking at. And again, always just how we can provide the services to folks most in need. We do treat anybody regardless of payment. And certainly just keeping our eye on, you know, how we can best serve folks and where those gaps are and how we could fill those gaps.
0:16:45
I think that’s something very special about McCall and something, you know, I’m always very interested in is, you know, what’s missing that really is a need and really trying to find a way to fill that need.
0:16:57
And again, we’ve just been very fortunate to have great partners like the Cigna Foundation to help us with that.
0:17:05
Very good. Your journey toward the light with McCall Behavioral Health Network starts at their website McCallBHN . org and we’ve been talking with Joy Pendola who’s the chief clinical officer from McCall Behavioral Health Network. They have received a $101 ,200 grant from the Cigna Group Foundation to address child and adolescent outpatient mental health services in the Greater Waterbury and Torrington areas. We appreciate your work and your team.
0:17:38 Joy, thank you so much for being part of the program this morning, and we’ll talk to you again soon.