Editor’s note: This commentary is by Robyn Daley, of Johnson, who has worked at Lamoille County Mental Health in Morrisville for 16 years and within the designated agency system for 20 years.
[T]he state of Vermont should dedicate dollars to student loan forgiveness for individuals working in the mental health field rather than pouring the available dollars into yet another system building exercise. When people graduate from school with $100,000 in student loan debt and the dream of helping people, they are often unable to afford to work in our state’s designated mental health agencies.
I help vulnerable kids in Vermont by clinically supervising a Children, Youth & Family Services program that proves case management therapy and home supports. I am a licensed mental health clinician offering therapy and consultations to individuals and families. As a leader in my field, I also participate in system reforms.
I hold two Bachelor of Arts degrees, a master’s in counseling, and I am a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor. I graduated with close to $100,000 in debt. After 19 years of service in Vermont’s designated mental health agencies, I have $78,000 in student loan debt remaining. I work two jobs, the second of which goes entirely to pay my student loans. Even so, I am barely making ends meet. Given my debt load and my choice to serve in a desperately needed and shockingly under-funded field, I am coming to realize that I will likely never be able to retire if I continue in my current position.
Given that I could make considerably more money in private practice, you might ask why I continue to work in this field. I stay because the kids who come here wouldn’t make it to a private practice. I stay here to make sure that the services kids come here for are quality services. My colleagues and I serve the most vulnerable kids in Vermont. You will not see these kids in the offices of private practitioners: we are their last stop.
Think of where these kids will be this year if not for our services: kicked out of child care (forcing their parents out of work); expelled from school (no high school graduation for them, no solid job, no future?); in the foster care system (no permanency).
If not for our work, in 15 years these kids will be the story that you hear about in the emergency room as they are suffering a mental health crisis, they will be incarcerated, addicted, or in a grave.
We are making real and significant differences in the lives of the children and families we serve.
I have known that I have wanted to do this work since I was 4 years old. I had a therapist who didn’t know what I needed, and I swore to myself that I was going to grow up and help kids get what they need.
I believe every kid has a chance. That is why I keep doing this work even though I am exhausted. Something needs to give.
Everyone agrees that Vermont is in the midst of a mental health crisis. Everyone agrees that we need to recruit and retain an educated mental health workforce. In order to do this, the state needs to put their money where their priorities are, and fund individual student loan forgiveness for those who have been working in the mental health field in Vermont for more than five years. After five years, they should have a percentage of their loans paid off, in 10 years, it should be a second percentage, etc., and if someone has dedicated 20 years of their career in the mental health field, their debt should be forgiven.
As I continue to work in a designated mental health agency that cannot pay me what is needed to allow me to pay off my loans, I wonder how many young adults are going to be graduating with similar debt loads and unable to step into the roles for which this state needs them.
If you want to support a mental health workforce, you need to tell us that you value our service. Our public officials need to support loan forgiveness for individuals working in the mental health field.
