At Saturday’s (1/25) Eggs and Issues event in Oskaloosa, the topic was mental health.  The featured speakers talked about mental health being just as important as physical health.  It was also pointed out that more people are taking steps to deal with anxiety and depression. But Christina Schark, Executive Director of the Southern Iowa Mental Health Center, says that has led to another issue.

“The unintended consequence of that is our providers that are here are feeling extremely stretched for time and resources.  By and large, not as many people choose the mental health profession as they might choose another profession.  It can be very wearing, it can be very exhausting,  It’s a very tiring job at times and there’s a lot of people who pick other fields for a lot of different reasons.  We’ve seen a combination of more people wanting help, but at this point in time, we have less people choosing the profession.”

Schark also says state and federal lawmakers can help caregivers by not telling therapists how to do their jobs.