The subpopulation focused upon on this paper is the minority youths in the state of South Carolina. The state is diversified although the majority is Caucasian Americans. Nevertheless, there are a significant percentage of minority ethnicities and races in the state, which means that they are subject to different policies affecting their wellbeing. Markedly, since the agency is a private practice counseling firm that deals with youths who have mental health issues. The state has a number of mental health policies that may affect the target population directly or indirectly. Succinctly, the agency should identify the policies and come up with the ideal strategies of dealing with situations elicited by the implementation of various policies by the state and federal governments.
In relation to state policies, one of the policies is the organization and management of mental health institutions in the state. Tersely, the organization of the facilities is aligned with the establishments of the clinics and their accessibility. Most of the minority youths do not have the required financial and social support that will enable them to access the facilities. Although the government has highlighted the need to ensure that the facilities are accessible to all individuals, the youths may not have adequate access, which means that the policy may result in locking out some of the individuals requiring their services. Additionally, the state policy also requires that some correctional units include mental health clinics. The client population is prone to criminal activities because of poverty and their social backgrounds. Nevertheless, this may have a negative effective on minority youths primarily because it may present an avenue of discrimination and stigmatization within the society (Abram, Zwecker, Welty, Hershfield, Dulcan, & Teplin, 2015).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
On the other hand, the federal government funding to the mental health can be a challenge to the minority youths in the state. Precisely, reducing mental health funding can have the ripple effect of many youths not having adequate access to health facilities and subsequently result in some of the client population worsening their conditions. Moreover, if the government reduces its funding on mental health programs, the youths will have challenges associated with the rising costs (Olfson, Druss, & Marcus, 2015). Accordingly, the youths will suffer from having minimal and low quality health care that services that may result in more clients having more mental diseases, and subsequently cost the healthcare system a lot of money in the long-run.
Private counseling practitioners should consider the two policies from the two levels of the government. In this regard, the organization should consider the state’s policy of organization and management of the mental health facilities and its effect on the psychological outlook of the target clients. Succinctly, choosing the location of the clinic should be informed by the presence of other facilities. The management should ensure that it looks for areas that do not have sufficient facilities to cater for the minority youths (Marrast, Himmelstein, & Woolhandler, 2016). On the other hand, the facility should ensure that its services are not expensive and can be afforded by low-income households. Concisely, this will be influential in ensuring that all clients are provided with high quality mental healthcare services that will address their problems efficiently.
Advocacy should be aimed at ensuring that the state has sufficient mental health facilities that are capable of providing their services to minority youths. In addition, there should be policies that educate the general population on the negative effects of discriminating, profiling, and stigmatizing of youths who have been incarcerated because of crimes resulting from their mental problems. On the other hand, the national government should be informed of the need to ensure there are sufficient funds for the provision of mental health services to the minority youths and the general population.
References
Abram, K. M., Zwecker, N. A., Welty, L. J., Hershfield, J. A., Dulcan, M. K., & Teplin, L. A. (2015). Comorbidity and continuity of psychiatric disorders in youth after detention: a prospective longitudinal study. JAMA psychiatry , 72 (1), 84-93.
Marrast, L., Himmelstein, D. U., & Woolhandler, S. (2016). Racial and ethnic disparities in mental health care for children and young adults: a national study. International Journal of Health Services , 46 (4), 810-824.
Olfson, M., Druss, B. G., & Marcus, S. C. (2015). Trends in mental health care among children and adolescents. New England Journal of Medicine , 372 (21), 2029-2038.
