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Spanish Fork professionals visit D.C. to raise awareness for mental health treatment centers

Daily Herald - 8/5/2017

Most parents wouldn't think of letting their son or daughter run around with an unset broken leg. It's unheard of, and it's something health insurance readily covers. Plus, there's that cool cast for friends to sign.

But for those who have similar mentally broken parts, there is no cultural coolness factor, and often there is no health insurance coverage. So many youth are walking around, ill, with few options to help them. And many of their parents' hearts are also breaking.

Illinois resident and father Ross Deutsch was in this position in 2013. His daughter, almost 14 at the time, was suffering from an eating disorder and anxiety. She couldn't keep up with regular public school, and the alternative options in their Chicago suburb school district were not addressing her needs.

"We were watching our daughter crater before our eyes. We were desperate. Something needed to be done," Deutsch said on a phone interview with the Daily Herald. He apologized for getting emotional, even after four years.

At that point in 2013, his daughter had already been through outpatient programs, in the hospital, and tried other treatments. None of them worked. As he and his wife searched for something to save their daughter, they heard about New Haven Residential Treatment Center in Spanish Fork. Deutsch said luckily, because he and his wife followed through on all the individualized education program steps in their Illinois school district, when they opted for New Haven, it was covered and approved by that state's education department.

He still tears up a little recalling that day in December 2013 when he and his wife flew their daughter out to Utah, to drop her off at New Haven. He felt like they were completely abandoning their daughter.

"It was the worst day of our life," he said. "But ultimately we trusted that this would save our daughter. That hope was the only thing we had to cling to."

Only a month later, when they returned to Utah for their first parents' weekend visit, he already saw major changes. And New Haven presented him with quantifiable data to explain the changes he was seeing, and what still needed to be done.

"We were walking up the sidewalk and she came running out, and gave us the best hug," he said. "In the course of that weekend, that's when I got it. That's when I understood the work those girls were doing, and the work our family needed to do."

Deutsch's daughter transitioned from New Haven to public schooling in Illinois in 2015. And just this spring she graduated from high school. Deutsch said he's still in awe that she's now talking about going away to college.

"New Haven saved my daughter's life. Words are inadequate to express how I feel," he said.

The Deutsch family, including their daughter, was part of a 2016 delegation that flew in to Washington, D.C. from the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs, or NATSAP. Deutsch said they went so legislators could see an actual girl affected by residential treatment programs, and to encourage them to support these medical facilities. Deutsch shared their journey - when his daughter was "a little sick," it was covered by insurance. When she was physically sick enough to be hospitalized, it was covered. But that middle time, when they were trying to proactively help her, insurance failed them.

"The reality is serious mental health issues need to recognized and covered similar to physical ailments," Deutsch said.

Gretchen Bartlett, director of admissions at New Haven, said experiences like the Deutsch family's are too often the norm. And residential treatment centers, therapeutic boarding schools and outdoor therapeutic programs are woefully misunderstood by many governmental entities controlling the health insurance purse strings.

Bartlett flew out with NATSAP in May as part of the 2017 delegation to Washington. She met with legislators, including Utah'sU.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, and staff members from the offices of senators, including Ted Cruz, Dianne Feinstein, Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris.

"This year was geared toward concerns we have about legislation, and about misconceptions. There is some fear of what's going to happen in the new administration," Bartlett said. "We want to bring awareness about the quality of care and level of accountability in our industry."

Bartlett said reality TV shows have sensationalized parts of the therapeutic industry, specifically wilderness camps. Those inaccuracies have damaged the perceptions of residential therapy.

"That's not even close to what we do. We don't use any of those tactics," she said.

Too often, the quiet day-to-day work of private, specialized treatment centers all over the nation is never seen, partly because of the stigma of mental illness, and often because success means stories like the Deutsch's - a daughter who can function in "normal" society. New Haven is trying to change that.

Bartlett said her NATSAP delegation also explained to lawmakers the 15 years of data New Haven has showing that about 85 percent of their patients transition back to home successfully. Of that number, 76 percent never need to return to a residential treatment setting. The delegation also highlighted the $4 million dollar economic benefit New Haven and other therapeutic treatment centers contribute to Utah's economy.

"There is a real need for what we do," Bartlett said. "We need increased health insurance funding. Insurance isn't geared toward long-term care, but we need awareness for that and support for these youth. If not, studies show they will be in and out of at least five other psychiatric placements or partial hospitalizations. We need coverage around long-term resolutions. Mental health coverage in insurance is sorely lacking and out of date."

For now, NATSAP and its members work year-round sharing data, experiences and solutions with any national or state leader or lawmaker who will listen. Deutsch, while raising his other four children and providing for his family, sill reaches out to other parents "who are walking in those same shoes," encouraging them that it can get better.