CONWAY, Ark. (February 15, 2016) – Hendrix College senior James Owen ’16 recently published “A Problem Unpleasant to Mention, Easy to Postpone: Mental Health Access in Arkansas” through the Arkansas Policy Program (APP).
The report seeks to provide an honest assessment of the state of mental health access in Arkansas as well as concrete solutions to increase points of access to mental health care in regions across the state, he said. “In addition to using the information to formulate the policy proposal, the idea was to provide
information that future research could build on to improve behavioral health in Arkansas long-term," Owen added.
Owen, a politics major and business minor from Hot Springs, spent last summer traveling around the state and meeting stakeholders in nine of the 13 catchment regions for mental health care in Arkansas. “By meeting with regional stakeholders, I was able to identify best practices on a local level that could
be expanded as policy solutions on a state-wide level," Owen said.
Read the report here.
The Arkansas Policy Program (APP) was developed by Hendrix politics professor Dr. Jay Barth with the support of the Bill and Connie Bowen Odyssey Professorship, which builds upon Barth’s ongoing public policy and public opinion research and advocacy work related to Arkansas. Through
APP, students and faculty provide nonpartisan, original analyses on key public policy issues in Arkansas through a new undergraduate think tank. Owen’s report was completed in collaboration with Bettina Brownstein, cooperating attorney for the ACLU of Arkansas.
Owen became interested in researching health care access in his home state after a student service trip. "Through a Miller Center trip to the Arkansas Delta during Spring Break of 2015 and personal experience growing up in Hot Springs, I have been exposed to the
dearth of access to health care and other vital resources that can be present in some areas of Arkansas. My family has always been fortunate enough to be able to travel to receive the care we needed, and we have always had insurance to pay for care,” he said. “After time to reflect on my experiences, I began to
wonder what the picture of getting health care looked like for people who could not travel for care. I asked the simple question of 'How can I help?' This interest led me to apply to do policy research with Dr. Barth through the Arkansas Policy Program."
“Along with his peers in his class of Arkansas Policy Program Fellows, James was able to further investigate his own possible vocational path in the world of public policy while at the same time contributing knowledge to this important—and too frequently ignored—area of public policy in Arkansas,”
Barth said.
To receive a free PDF file of “A Problem Unpleasant to Mention, Easy to Postpone: Mental Health Access in Arkansas” or learn more about APP, email
barth@hendrix.edu.
About
Hendrix College
Hendrix College is a private liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas. Founded in 1876 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884, Hendrix is featured in Colleges
That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think about Colleges and is nationally recognized in numerous college guides, lists, and rankings for academic quality, community, innovation, and value. For more information, visit
www.hendrix.edu.