Healing A Broken Mental Health System with Dr. Karen DeCocker
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The conversation about the state of the mental health system is gaining momentum, exposing its shortcomings. In a recent interview series featuring behavioral health leader, Dr. Karen DeCocker, Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and Director of Advanced Practice Providers at Stella Center, sheds light on innovative approaches to address mental health challenges.
Dr. DeCocker emphasizes the need for a shift in mental health care paradigms, treating brain health with the same significance as physical health. Growing up in the 70s with a mother battling depression, she experienced firsthand the lack of available treatments, inspiring her journey into nursing and psychiatry.
Her career spans diverse settings, from labor and delivery to academia, and now to the forefront of mental health advancements at Stella Center. Dr. DeCocker advocates for integrated care, collaboration between mental health professionals and primary care, and early intervention programs to identify and address issues before escalation.
She highlights the role of technology, especially telehealth, in improving accessibility to mental health services. Social media and the impact of COVID-19 have also played unexpected positive roles, breaking stigma and increasing awareness of mental health's biological aspects.
Dr. DeCocker outlines five impactful changes for healing the broken mental health system: integrated care, early intervention, increased access, destigmatization, and investment in research and innovation. She envisions a world where mental health care is seamlessly integrated, destigmatized, and accessible to all.
Acknowledging the influence of social factors, she calls for addressing disparities in access and care quality related to poverty, education, and culture. In the context of the growing mental health crisis among young people, Dr. DeCocker supports school-based programs, digital interventions, and peer support to foster understanding and reduce isolation.
She recommends resources like "The Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Podcast" and Dr. Eugene Lipov's book, "The Invisible Machine," to enhance understanding of mental health and trauma. Dr. DeCocker expresses the desire to meet with corporate leaders to emphasize the importance of mental health coverage and evidence-based care options for employees.
As the mental health conversation gains momentum, leaders like Dr. Karen DeCocker are driving innovations to reshape the landscape and provide effective, inclusive, and destigmatized mental health care. Innovations and integrated care that reshaped the landscape are employed by DeCocker and her colleagues through innovative treatments such as ketamine infusion therapy and the Dual Sympathetic Reset at Stella locations across the globe.