May is Mental Health Awareness Month! In our Disability Unsealed episode this month, we chatted with ESL Vice President and Clinical Director about our current Behavioral Health Programs and the future impact ESL will have in the Behavioral Health community in Louisiana. Check it out now!
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Mental Health Resources  and Info:
There is absolutely nothing wrong with starting with a GP or a family physician to start on the path of dealing with a mental health issue. The key is in someone being willing to be open enough to discuss an issue like that with their doctor.

For people with commercial insurance, there are numbers that can be called with their carriers that will help them to identify what type of service/doctor is needed, and they will provide referrals to people/entities that carry their insurance. Start by calling the info number on the back of your insurance card. 

For people with no insurance, the state (Louisiana) is broken into 10 districts, and each district has entities called Limited Government Entities (LGEs). The LGEs exist to provide services for uninsured people. Examples of LGEs are Metropolitan Human Services District in New Orleans, Jefferson Parish Human Services Authority serving Jefferson Parish, Florida Parishes Human Services District serving the Northshore, etc. Here is the contact info for their different regional offices: https://ldh.la.gov/index.cfm/directory/category/100

There are also entities that provide linkages to services that people can access via telephone or the internet. One is called ViaLink (https://vialink.org/) and another is the 211 system (https://www.louisiana211.org/). 

There are also Nationwide resources you can use in crisis or if you still don't know where to start: 

• Mental Health First Aid: https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/mental-health-resources/
• Suicide Prevention Line: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

And some links to other articles you may find helpful in managing your mental health daily:

• https://www.insider.com/mental-health-awareness-month
• https://www.mentalhealthishealth.us/?utm_source=search-ad&utm_medium=other&utm_campaign=may
• https://fenwayhealth.org/the-importance-of-mental-health-awareness-month/