News Photo by Michael Gonzalez Norman Schillerstrom and Jody Palmer work in the monitoring room for people with serious mental illnesses or intellectual development disabilities at the NeMCMHA clinic on Monday. The open-line telephones lined up on the wall allow the workers to monitor and make sure people who need help or supervision are alright as they try to live independently.

ALPENA — Counties in Northeast Michigan suffer from a lack of available mental health care, multiple data sources show.

In the 2022 County Health Rankings — a data gathering program from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute that ranks counties by health factors and qualities — Alcona County had 10 mental health providers, with 260 people to one provider. Montmorency had 16, with a ratio of 560 people to one provider, and Presque Isle ranked third worst of the 83 Michigan counties in 2022 with only five providers.

The five providers in Presque Isle County have 2,620 people each.

Alpena County ranked highest in Northeast Michigan with a sufficient number of 110 providers and is one of two Northeast Michigan counties to have a practicing child and adolescent psychiatrist.

Both Presque Isle and Alpena hold one CAP in their region.

Michigan suffers from a mental health provider shortage, as only 34 of 83 total counties have at least one CAP, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Nena Sork, executive director of Northeast Michigan Community Mental Health Authority (NeMCMHA), said the organization struggles with filling jobs that require social work degrees.

“We provide a lot of different services that require certain certifications,” Sork said. “Some of these jobs are things like outpatient therapy or being a supervisor for the offices. Those would be people who sign off on papers and requests. They need a Masters of Social Work degree.”

According to the NeMCMH website, the organization “provide(s) or make(s) available a comprehensive array of services and supports to children and adults who have a serious mental illness, serious emotional disturbance, or an intellectual/developmental disability or those who may have a substance use disorder that is co-occurring with a mental illness and reside within the four-county catchment area.”

Sork explained NeMCMHA struggles regularly with staff shortages, but said in spite of these odds its workers saw more people in 2022 compared to 2021. She was happy to hear those results and reported it to the Alpena County Board of Commissioners on July 25.

Sork said there are 412 positions throughout the organization and, on average, 50 to 70 job positions are usually open. She said it’s hard to fill jobs requiring social work degrees because other places around the four-county area have competition.

The non-profit group competes against hospitals, health departments, social services, and schools for people with social work degrees, making it more and more difficult to find workers.

The housing shortage in the counties also makes it difficult to hire people that are not local, Sork added.

To combat the shortage of social workers, Alpena Community College offers an articulation agreement with Western Michigan University to allow students to go through a four-year program and obtain their Bachelor of Social Work degree.

Sork hopes to give these students internships and recruit them after graduation.

“(Shortages) are everywhere, but I think with the proactive approach will be wonderful for families,” Sork said. “They can get an education locally and don’t need to travel. We’re optimistic with this program ACC has and thrilled to see what it might do for staffing.”