Mental Health Care in Nebraska
Nebraska has attracted some incredible talent in the field of mental health; people who understand the illnesses, who understand the effects on families, and who understand the need for the state to change and to move into a new realm of healing opportunity. Rather than embracing their knowledge and leadership; however, we often appear to dig into our comfort zone ignoring wonderful opportunities to make Nebraska a health leader in the nation.
Nebraska continually ranks close to the bottom in the provision of mental health care. We seem to lack the political will to develop community-based treatment centers that have proven so effective in other states. We seem to lack the motivation to invest in additional healing opportunities for children. We seem to believe that short-term residential treatment is ineffective, yet we are persuaded to enlarge the prison system.