It is an unfortunate reality, but patients and parents of patients often shoulder the burden of managing their mental health alone.

According to data from the 2021 KIDS County Data Book published by local children’s advocacy organization, Voices for Utah Children, “In 2021, the U.S. Surgeon General sounded the alarm on mental health and warned about the pandemic’s impact on youth mental health. The Surgeon General also noted that mental health struggles affected the young even before the pandemic. Before the pandemic, one in five 3- to 17-year-olds struggled with either a mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral disorder. In Utah, data from the National Survey of Children’s Health shows that children 3- to 17-years-old struggling with mental health issues, approximately 60% are not receiving mental health treatment.”

Our primary care and pediatric providers have battled limited resources, funding, and decentralized psychiatric care. In a push to reinforce our colleagues and provide equal access to world-class mental health experts, University of Utah Health has joined forces with the state to create the Consultation Access Link to Utah Psychiatry (CALL-UP).

CALL-UP is a program funded by the state designed to address the limited number of pediatric psychiatric services in Utah and to improve access to psychiatric consultations. The program, which is implemented by Huntsman Mental Health Institute at the University of Utah Health, serves pediatric primary care physicians throughout the state of Utah, at no cost.

How we can help:

• Consult on psychotropic medication questions
• Optimize primary care providers’ ability and confidence to diagnose and treat mild to moderate mental health issues in the primary care setting
• Improve quality of primary health care
• When you contact us, a member of our team will gather basic demographic information about you and your patient. Since state funding requires this step, we appreciate your patience. Next, your call will be transferred directly to a psychiatrist who will complete your consultation. Our team will answer questions about common emotional and mental health disorders like sleep issues, school refusal, anxiety-related concerns and more. We also provide treatment recommendations, medication clarification and recommendations and diagnostic clarification when necessary.

Tips for busy providers:

We know, as a primary care provider, you typically have a full day of seeing patients and may not have time to reach out to us when you need some psychiatric direction on how to help your patients. To make it easier and more convenient for you:

• Have someone call ahead for you — Your MA or nurse can initiate the call for you and submit the patient information via our website or by calling our hotline at 801-587-3636. They can hand off the phone to you, or our provider on call for that day can give you a call back when it is most convenient for you.
• Get therapist recommendations — Many calls are simply a request for trusted referrals near a patient’s home. We are happy to provide resources for these requests as well.
• Build your mental health knowledge — The real magic of these consults is not that it helps just one patient. Each time we connect with you, your comfort level expands, improving your ability to manage the mental health challenges of other patients.

Our psychiatric providers are available, waiting by the phone to support you, Monday through Friday 12:00 PM – 4:30 PM (excluding holidays). Consults are available for providers with patients ages 0 to 24.