Mental health advocates in South Jersey are calling for more services for those with developmental and intellectual disabilities experiencing mental health issues.

Some calling the region a disability service desert, but the only option for mental health services being local emergency rooms.

But many families report waiting for hours in hospital hours only to be discharged and sent home with no follow up plan in place.

According to the Centers for Disease Control.

Adults with Disabilities report experiencing frequent mental distress almost five times, often as adults with disabilities.

Which is why the advocates in the region are now calling on the state to fill the gap.

Mental health writer Bobby Brier joins me for more.

Bobby, throughout your reporting, did you find what was most surprising when it came to seeking services for those in New Jersey?

For a lot of families and loved ones in New Jersey who are in this situation, they oftentimes have to go to, you know, a primary care doctor to find the right services with wraparound services that include behavioral health.

Now, that's okay when they're in a non-emergency situation, but when they're in a life threatening or a crisis situation, they often end up in the emergency room.

And it was most surprising to me to hear the amount of time that families spent in the emergency room really in these situations.

So the problem with that is really twofold.

First of all, they're often their loved one is given medication to essentially calm down in many situations and then discharged without a plan in place.

And then in addition to that, they often will sit for hours waiting for a bed to open up.

The issue there is that there's only about 32 beds in total in the state, and that's in Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth.

That's for both adult children and adolescents.

You know, we know that this the lack of mental health services doesn't just affect patients.

It also affects caregivers.

You know, so what are some of the challenges they're up against?

They're up against a few challenges in particular.

One is that if they're in a crisis or their loved one's in a crisis, really the only option for them right now is to go to the emergency room to 911.

But in that situation in South Jersey, it's really a difficult situation because there's really no beds in South Jersey.

So they would have to essentially wait for a bed at Trinity House to open up or they would be discharged back home where the problem just continues to repeat itself.

As we all know, that really leads to a lot of caregiver burnout and the cycle repeating itself.

So right now, the state is really launching this program to look for a nonprofit that could address this issue, as well as calls reducing calls to police and reducing calls to emergency rooms.

You know, currently Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth is the only hospital in the state that caters to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are experiencing mental health crises, as you noted, But it only has a few dozen beds.

So what is the state doing to fill that gap right now?

This gap is really being addressed through the state, through this mobile crisis prevention and intervention service.

They call it the START model.

Essentially, that means that they would dispatch a team of people often times to a person's home to provide education and services, not just in the moment, but follow up care as well.

If necessary.

It's a model that has been replicated in states like California and New York and North Carolina with a lot of success.

So this is a promising step in the right direction for the state and for family members as well.

But it remains to be seen who will get this grant, who will get the over $3 million that the state is setting aside for these crisis stabilization teams and what really what will come of that?

You know what?

What is most at risk here if this doesn't happen?

I think most at risk is that you're going to see these problems that we're already seeing repeated again and again, that families, if somebody has a co-occurring mental health issue, along with an intellectual and developmental disability, has to go to the emergency room, they're often going to be discharged right back to their home.

They're going to be waiting for a bed.

And the problem is really never addressed.

In many cases.

Advocates have just said it's a Band-Aid approach that is really not addressing the issue.

So we're seeing this problem get worse and exacerbation of these issues that would only continue if if the state and if programs are not put in place.

Bobby Brier, excellent reporting, as usual.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you Raven.