SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – “A lot of mental illness actually doesn’t get recognized until maybe even eight to 10 or 11 years after the onset of symptoms,” said UCSF child and adolescent psychiatrist Petra Steinbuchel, MD. She explained that this is in part due to “long standing silos and separation between care for the body and care for the mind.”
Steinbuchel joined KCBS Radio’s “As Prescribed” to discuss a resource that is helping break down the barriers between physical health care and mental health care: the California Child and Adolescent Mental Health Access Portal (Cal-MAP). In addition to serving as the Medical Director of Mental Health & Child Development at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Oakland, Steinbuchel is also the director of Cal-MAP.
“The resource allows primary care providers to consult with UCSF psychiatrists and psychologists for advice on treating young patients with mental health concerns,” explained a press release from UCSF. “In late 2024, the portal expanded to licensed providers statewide.”
Back when the portal lunched in 2019, Steinbuchel and her team could not have predicted an event that would change our understanding of health in the U.S. – the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That proved to be a really timely launch,” Steinbuchel told KCBS Radio’s Bret Burkhart.
During the pandemic, rates of anxiety and depression doubled and tripled, thrusting new light on an existing issue.
“Primary care providers were often at the frontlines of, you know, getting these concerns from parents, from kids who were feeling isolated and… struggling more as a result of isolation,” she said. However, they didn’t always have the resources to address them, even as an estimated one in five people struggle with mental health conditions.
Through the Cal-MAP portal, primary care providers who have not had much training in mental health can find resources to become more comfortable dealing with their patients, including what Steinbuchel calls “language pearls” to help destigmatize mental health. The portal’s primary function is to serve as a consultation model, connecting them to other clinicians who work directly with youth who can advise them on how to deal with their patients. In this way, the portal helps mitigate the impact of the current mental health provider shortage on patients.
“There’s a severe shortage of not only child psychiatrists, but other mental health care clinicians, therapists and psychologists and developmental pediatricians… there’s a huge need,” Steinbuchel said.
Cal-MAP provides resources to primary care providers for youth up to age 26 and it expanded statewide last December. It is available Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Listen to this week's "As Prescribed" to learn more. You can also listen to last week's episode to learn about changes in the way we treat chronic pain here.
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“As Prescribed” is sponsored by UCSF.