29 April 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Mental health crisis in Kansas continues with the need for hundreds more child and adolescent psychiatrists (medical doctors who specialize in mental health, including substance use disorders).
“My colleagues and I agree things have been rougher since COVID,” said Dr. Peter Seiler, a child and adolescent psychiatrist practicing in Wichita.
The University of Kansas (KU) School of Medicine-Wichita is starting a fellowship to get more doctors trained to be adolescent psychiatrists.
The fellowship starts in July.
“Actually, we here at COMCARE will be collaborating, so I’m really excited about that,” said M.D Clifford Arnold, who sees patients at COMCARE with Sedgwick County. “I do think it is a much-needed gap.”
Dr. Arnold says there are 69 child and adolescent psychiatrists in the State of Kansas, and many of them practice in the Kansas City area. That leaves a hole in coverage for Wichita and rural areas of the Sunflower State.
Dr. Rachel Brown has been working for several years now to start a fellowship to train child psychiatrists at KU School of Medicine-Wichita.
“And that’s really what matters is our kids. And the kids are hurting,” said Dr. Brown. “So the people we will be recruiting will have done undergraduate degrees, four years of medical school, so they’re all MD’s. And they have also done three years of specialized training in psychiatry working, some, with children and adolescents.”
Dr. Brown says KU recognized the need for fundraising to get the fellowship off the ground.
“So it’s supervised practice working specifically with children and adolescents and their family and the youth,” said Dr. Brown of the recruits that will begin in July. “They’ll be working with kids that have, for the most part, fairly significant emotional and behavioral problems.”
Dr. Seiler says the program is very much needed. He has spent a lot of time and effort teaching professionals that are studying child psychiatry. He hopes there will be more on the way.
“There’s absolutely not enough. Especially people willing to take state insurance 115 and things like that because the compensation is pretty poor,” said Dr. Seiler. “But these are often the kids that need the most help, and it’s nobody’s fault what insurance they have. And child psychiatry here is extremely lacking here in Wichita.”
Dr. Seiler says there is also a large need for more “mid-level” professionals to deal with mental health, from Nurse Practitioners to those studying nursing.
“It would be great to have more psychiatrists in the area,” said Dr. Seiler. “But the reality is we also need more mid-levels. PA’s and nurse practitioners that are well trained.”
Dr. Brown says it is her hope the make a difference, something she has been striving for the past four decades.
“So there’s a big gap between where we are right now and where we need to be. And we’re not going to fill the gap quickly, of course,” said Dr. Brown. “We’re going to train up to four a year. Right now, we’ve recruited three who will start in July for our very first class. It’s going to take us a long time to fill the gap, but you’ve got to start small and do your piece. Your little bit.”