Two new ASU programs aim to end the health care provider shortage that is leaving almost 4 million Arizona children without psychiatric care.
The first post-graduate program, through the College of Nursing and Healthcare Innovation, is training nurse practitioners to work with children's mental health problems, a field that is in need of qualified people. The first class will receive their certificates in August.
"The problem is there are just so few people who provide mental health care," said Michael Rice, coordinator of the Family Child Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program.
The second program is a doctoral program that trains nurse practitioners in children's mental health, assessment, treatment and management of psychiatric conditions. The first class will start their clinical training in the fall.
The certificate program, designed for currently licensed nurse practitioners, focuses on more common diseases like depression and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Rice said graduates of the certificate program are the "front line" and will deal with about 80 percent of cases.
"Knowing exactly how to differentiate a developmental problem from a psychiatric disorder can be really tricky," Rice said.
Teaching health care providers about children's mental health is especially important because mental illness is a leading cause of death in children and teens, Rice said.
Despite the need for mental health care, Rice said five Arizona counties still don't have any child psychiatric care at all.
The shortage is the result of a number of factors, Rice said, including a lack of awareness.
"Socially, people don't like to think of children as having mental health issues," Rice said.
The large need for childhood mental health care is what drew doctoral student Diana Jacobson to the certificate program. Jacobson, a pediatric nurse practitioner, said when she would refer children to psychiatric specialists, it could take months to set up an appointment because of the "major" shortage.
Jacobson said she personally worked with a large number of children suffering from depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder in her practice and needed to learn more about the field.
"I'm becoming much more comfortable," Jacobson said.
Janet Cooper, another student in the program, also saw the need for children's psychiatric care during her work as a pediatric nurse practitioner.
"I was finding I was doing more mental health than physical health," Cooper said.
Learning more about psychiatric drugs and children has been the most interesting part of the program, Cooper said.
"What I found enlightening was the effects of medication on the brain," Cooper added.
Children react differently than adults to medications and other treatments, Cooper said, often because they have more influences — like school and family — on their behavior.
Cooper added that learning about children's mental health has honed the skills she already has in working with children and teens.
"[Other nurse practitioners] know there's something odd, something different, but they can't diagnose it," Cooper said.
Reach the reporter at claudia.koerner@asu.edu.
