Mental health is reaching out and using technology to do it.

Using high-definition cameras mounted on televisions, patients and specialists can communicate face-to-face without leaving their areas, said Steve Roark, executive director of Warren-Yazoo Mental Health, which is using the telepsychiatry program to counsel patients who previously had to travel up to hundreds of miles from the Mississippi Delta and other rural areas for mental health treatment.

“The psychiatrist there is able to interview and move the camera around to do a complete observation and prescribe medication,” Roark said. “They do not have to come all the way to Vicksburg or Yazoo City.”

Mississippi averages one psychiatrist for every 200,000 people, Roark said, so the program allows professionals working with Warren-Yazoo, the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the Delta Health Alliance to reach out.

“Under normal circumstances it would take three months to see a psychiatrist,” said Don Brown, Warren-Yazoo’s Warren County office director. “With the increased hours, it is going to cut down on the waiting time significantly.”

The program started in Clarksdale in 2008 and is funded by a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration

“We’ve had a great response,” said Jeanine Hanks, director of services. “The patients have really been pleased. The doctor spends a lot of time with the evaluation, and they really do appreciate it.”

The cameras, which run about $15,000 each, also make staff training easier.

Warren-Yazoo recently conducted training with a crisis center in Grenada without either party leaving the office.

“They were on camera and we’re sitting here,” Roark said. “We had questions and answers and presentations, so the ways we can use this is just unbelievable.”

The program has gained momentum in the last year.

“Since July, there have been about 1,300 sessions throughout the Delta, “ said Dr. Grayson Norquist, chairman of the UMC Department of Psychiatry. “They are also testing mobile laptops for case managers to take to people and link back to a board certified psychiatrist.”

“With technology like this, we are going to be able to deliver services in a quicker and better manner than we have ever been able to do,” Brown said.