- [Jamie] Michigan is known for with endless shorelines, hidden and massive forests.

What it's not known for are dese sometimes hidden in plain sight.

In Central Michigan, the Northern Lower Peninsula, and the Upper Peninsula, both adults and children facing challenges are struggling to fin - The northernmost state psychiatric facility is in Caro, which is in my district.

That's a long ways from Traverse It's a long ways from the bridge And so, it's even longer from so like Marquette or Menominee.

What a desert looks like is when is in crisis and they need suppo and maybe they go into, you know Munson for a ER because they don - [Jamie] State Representative M serves as the chair for the Hous Subcommittee on Public Health an which recently released a report underperforming behavioral healt The investigation found Michigan 47th in the nation in psychiatri - Decades of disinvestment.

Psychiatric care is hard, right?

First of all, it's-I think peopl like the general public, has a hard time wrapping their head around mental health In addition to that, we had, in a history of not handling mental facilities very well.

And our answer to that in the la 2000s was to close state-run fac That process has been a major fa as to how we got where we are to - [Jamie] When broken down by th the shortage is shocking.

- You know, when I tell people t average is between 30 and 40 bed and in Michigan we have 19.

And the majority of those that a acute beds run by the state is m - [Jamie] Construction is underw psychiatric facilities in the Lo the Southeast Michigan Psychiatr Hospital in Northville Township, fully funded by the state; the UM Health-Sparrow Behavioral a public-private partnership wit the Southridge Behavioral Hospit a private joint venture with 96 And earlier this year, Pine Rest opened Michigan's first pediatri care facility in Grand Rapids.

But as you head further north, t - I guess 50% of our adults are downstate or out of state.

All of our kids, of course, have to go downstate or out of s because the 21 counties of North we have zero beds for kids.

- [Jamie] Kate Dahlstron is the Alliance on Mental Illness Grand - Approximately 2018, when we mo our youngest son was struggling, and I didn't have a clue where t were to get him help.

And so, I'm not even sure how I found out about NAMI, but And I took one of the classes an some support groups.

Then, the more involved I was, the more I realized that we have in our mental health continuum o Families have been struggling in And so, we're making noise up he and it's time for change.

- [Jamie] The recent report outl recommendations to deal with the including establishing a dedicat health campus in Northern Michig - It's called the Northern Michi And it would a state of Michigan inpatient and residential treatm serving children and adults.

So, we found a pretty central location where there's, you know a lot of Northern Michigan Michi could access this.

And the location was just west o - [Jamie] It's unclear when this will potentially move forward.

For now, families are trying to the system in real time.

What actually happens if you're a person in Central or Northern Michigan in the middle of a ment health emergency or are trying t help for someone that you care a In these desert areas, the first stop is almost always - CMH comes in usually within ab Community Mental Health, CMH.

Within about three hours, that's kind of the standard to d And then, they start looking for Closest place to someplace like City is probably Grand Rapids-is We know that family support, family input, caretaker support, just loved ones being involved i is really important.

And now, they're a two and a hal every time you have to have a fa It's not conducive to treatment.

It's not conducive to healing.

As a result of that distance and that lack of beds in Norther whether it's in the UP or it's j it causes long-term lack of care It's why people wind up not bein because they don't have access t - [Jamie] Corey Thompson is the at Pleasant Psychology in Mount and specializes in helping child She says it's not uncommon to se significant sacrifices to get a - We have numerous families that are traveling over an hour And I would say the reason being in the areas that they live in, there's not a facility that spec in child mental health.

If you have an eight-year-old, we don't want them just to see somebody who works in mental hea Somebody needs to see an eight-y who specializes in child mental Like, right now, I'm thinking of weekly to come and see us, that travels an hour and 20 minu And it just breaks my heart, but, at the same time, I'm so grateful that they're wil - [Jamie] Thompson warns, even when families manage to tra down an outpatient provider, health insurance roadblocks and out-of-pocket expenses regularly parents to make some tough decis - We have some kids that are com because of the severity of their The copays, the cost it takes, the time to come off of work, th it is an extreme financial barri There shouldn't be a financial b a child the help that they need.

- [Jamie] Local providers and ad the shortage isn't just about bu It's about changing how the enti works from start to finish.

- If you had a heart attack or a else that you had fixed in the h you go home and you've got physi you've got occupational therapis you've got immediate everything.

That doesn't happen with mental You're discharged, and, "Good lu So long.

Hope we don't see you again."

We're wasting millions, probably of dollars because we're not doi it right in the first place, the - I think it's a problem that do solved by any one person.

It will take coalitions of peopl The state can't fix it by itself and the privates can't fix it by Community mental health is not g this by themselves.

It's going to take everybody wor together to make this happen bec way we're going to get a handle - If a family has to call for si they're going to stop calling, r And because it's exhausting.

It is fully exhausting.

So, yes, to be able to eliminate all of those barriers would just peaceful, you know, just allow a family to get the s - Finding the right care in Nort Michigan can feel like an uphill but immediate support is within If you're struggling, call or text 988 to reach the Su