Continuous learning helps guide our work at the Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health. It’s one of our values. That’s why our team turned to experts to deepen our understanding of the behavioral health landscape in Idaho.

Behavioral health continues to be one of the most pressing health issues in our state. The topic and systems surrounding it are complex, which we identified in a behavioral health report that we commissioned last year. The report includes specific recommendations for fixing or improving bottlenecks that exist for people trying to access behavioral healthcare.

We understand the importance of our team members having a basic understanding of what’s happening in Idaho as behavioral health impacts each of our three focus areas — community, education, and healthcare.

We invited four experts with varying backgrounds and roles within Idaho’s behavioral health system to help our team level up its knowledge about what is happening in our state when it comes to behavioral health.

The experts:

• Megan Smith, Executive Director, Communities for Youth
• Beth Markley, Executive Director, NAMI Idaho
• Rachel Blanton, Public Health and Health Systems Program Consultant
• Cheryl Foster, Idaho Behavioral Health Council

Some of the biggest takeaways from these lunch-and-learn conversations included:

• There is a major behavioral health provider shortage in Idaho. All 44 counties in the state don’t have enough clinicians and counselors, with rural areas having far fewer healthcare professionals. We aren’t going to workforce our way out of this alone. Idaho needs more providers, but community conditions and prevention matter, too. That’s why NAMI Idaho’s peer-support groups, which we supported in Lewiston, Pocatello, and Twin Falls, are important.
• Upstream-prevention approaches are necessary. We support several school-based programs, including PBIS work and the Idaho Youth Well-Being Survey, that are designed to help students’ behavioral health.
• Belonging may be a behavioral health strategy. Social connections and feeling connected to a community came up as more important than we may have expected. We include a session on behavioral health in our annual Community Health Academy so mayors and city staff understand what’s happening in Idaho.
• Other key issues, including housing and economic stability, impact behavioral health.
• Technology and screen time, especially for children, can lead to increased anxiety. Our team watched this video and now fully understands how technology and screens are affecting children.

We are thankful for the time that each of these experts and partners spent with us discussing behavioral health in Idaho. Our team learned a lot and has a better understanding of what’s happening in Idaho, which will help guide our behavioral health work. We will continue to address this root cause that impacts health in our state.