Rabun County Mental Health

Growing up in Rabun County personally and learning about rural mental health needs professionally, I was somewhat aware of the challenges facing our area prior to opening my practice. Since providing mental health services here for the last year, however, I am now acutely aware of the problems our county is facing. There can be extensive waitlists for services within the county, and oftentimes our residents are forced to seek support elsewhere. This then becomes an accessibility issue for many of our residents and families with limited resources.

After providing mental health services in Buffalo, New York, Baltimore, Maryland, and Atlanta, Georgia – I thought a smalltown practice would provide enough work to keep me busy, but I had no idea regarding the level of acuity and lack of referral resources I would be facing. I can confdently say the concentration of trauma survivors in this geographical region is largely disproportionate to other places. Just as we know suicide rates are higher due to frearm use in rural areas, the trauma caused by homicides/suicides within families is also much higher. The meth/opioid crisis seems to be contributing to even more violence and early childhood trauma of separation and loss. Finally, this area also has an extremely high rate of family violence/sexual abuse. We have a mental health crisis in this county and the larger southeastern Appalachian region which only keeps getting worse.

My goal is to attract more mental health professionals to this area and provide support to people who may be interested in pursuing advanced degrees in the mental health feld. As a licensed psychologist, I could provide supervision for practicum

students, pre-doctoral interns, and post-docs to address some of the shortages in mental health care – but I currently do not have the resources required to expand my practice.

I hope to collaborate with other community members who have experience with grant-writing, working for non-profts, and know how to best access rural mental health funds within government agencies. Together, I hope we can better bridge the gaps in services for this area. As a result, I will be assembling a Mental Health Task Force to address the growing concern of mental health challenges in Rabun County.

It will be co-chaired by Jessica Robinson and Sunny Volano, LPC. Ms. Robinson has extensive experience in grant writing for government and non-proft agencies in Hall County. Ms. Volano is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) who served on the Dekalb Community Service Board, a non-proft mental health agency in Decatur, Georgia. She worked on the APEX grant for school based mental health services and System of Care grant bridging mental health care for children and families. Additionally, the board will be composed of representatives from Rabun County Schools, Law Enforcement, Medical and Mental Health Professionals, FAITH (Fight Abuse In The Home), and Rabun County Division of Family and Children Services.

The Mission of the Task Force will be to understand the scope of the issues facing our area, identify possible sources of funding to address mental health needs, and collect and analyze data from local residents regarding unmet needs and requested services. Specifcally, the needs assessment will focus on current accessibility, availability, and acceptability (stigma) of mental health services in Northeast Georgia.

Collaboration with our schools, along with state and local agencies and community stakeholders is critical to ensuring all resources and partnerships are on the table. A Town Hall Meeting in May is in the planning stages, where the board will provide a comprehensive review of the board fndings and needs assessment results with local residents. If information is available, possible avenues of funding will also be discussed. During this meeting, attendees will have the opportunity to voice concerns regarding mental health needs and provide additional suggestions for improving mental health care in Rabun County. The time and place of the meeting will be announced in the next Georgia Mountain Laurel and other media outlets to be certain that the public has the necessary information.

If you have an expertise you believe would beneft the board and are interested in joining, please contact Dr. Amanda Howard Pileski for consideration. She may be reached by e-mail: mandy. howard.pileski@gmail.com or by phone: 404.291.4018