More than 18,000 kids and young adults in Nevada suffer from serious mental illness. A new outpatient program launched in Reno this week will treat young people who have just experienced their first episode of psychosis, without having to institutionalize them. The goal is to eventually offer the service statewide.
To learn more, let's turn to our News Director Michelle Billman who interviewed Nevada's First Lady Kathleen Sandoval and Tracey Green, chief medical officer for the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health.
Someone suffering an episode of psychosis will lose their sense of reality and can experience confused or rapid thinking, false beliefs, paranoia, and hallucinations.
The Enlivencenter in Reno will serve teens and young adults between the ages of 15 and 25, which is often when first episodes of psychosis occur. Tracey Green with the state says their goal is to treat the condition early.
"Individuals with untreated mental illness, they die sometimes up to 25 years earlier than individuals with behavioral health disorders that are treated," Green explains.
Enliven is based on a national model and will eventually be rolled out statewide. Kathleen Sandoval, one the of driving forces behind bringing the program to Nevada, says it will innovate mental healthcare in the state by offering outpatient care. She says the stigma of being institutionalized prevents a lot of families from getting help.
"The focus will be to be able to have that youth continue to have a normal life," Sandoval says, "whether it's going to school or having employment."
Enliven is a partnership between the state and The Children's Cabinet, a nonprofit with programs for at-risk kids and their families.