Category: Adolescent Behavioral Health

What You Need to Know for PHP Insurance Billing in 2023

A partial Hospitalization Program (day hospitalization) is a structured day program providing several hours of therapy and necessary skill-building groups daily. Participants in a daily PHP routine go back home each night. The program can last for a week or up to six months.

PHP treatment programs closely resemble a highly structured but short-term hospital inpatient program. It’s more intense than psychosocial rehabilitation or outpatient day treatment. We have prepared this article to provide general guidelines for insurance billing for PHP.

Behavioral Health Levels of Care

Behavioral health facilities provide four types of services needed by patients that insurance companies may reimburse. These include:

Hospital-based inpatient programs where patients need medical monitoring, nursing care, or other behavioral health services requiring 24/7 treatment.
Residential treatment programs (RTC) are a form of sub-acute facility-based monitoring that offers other behavioral health services.
Partial hospital programs (PHP) provide services in an ambulatory setting and often require 20 hours per week.
Intensive outpatient programs (IOP) where patients get behavioral health services for nine to 19 hours per week (adults) and at least six hours for children and adolescents.

Insurance Billing for PHP in a Nutshell

PHP services receive insurance reimbursement for an all-inclusive per diem payment, including services used in the program or the lesser charges. It includes all disciplines and services such as therapies, social workers, psychiatric nurses, dieticians, occupational therapists, and licensed addiction counsellors.

Psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatrist physician assistants, and psychiatric nurse practitioners may bill separately on a CMS-1500 Claim Form if they provide services outside of a treatment program, for example, individual therapy, E&M services, or psychological testing. Additionally, appropriately licensed providers can bill separately for labs or psychiatric diagnostic evaluations.

Providers cannot bill Family or group counseling in addition to PHP.

Instructions for Insurance Billing for PHP

Facilities provide different substance use and psychiatric service levels with various licensure types. Each care level requires specific coding and billing information to determine appropriate reimbursement. Below is the insurance billing for PHP guide on the UB-04 Claim Form.

Psychiatric Services

Facility or Service Type	Bill Type	Revenue Code	Level	HCPCS
PHP	131	0912	Full day	H0035
PHP	131	0912	Eating Disorder Program	S9485

Substance Use Services

Facility or Service Type	Bill Type	Revenue Code	HCPCS
PHP	131	0912	S9475

Billing Limitations and Exclusions

When insurers consider reimbursement, payment determination is subject to the following:

Individual or group benefit
Provider Participation Agreement
Mandated or legislative-required criteria always supersede
Routine claim editing logic that includes but not limited to mutually exclusive or incidental logic and medical necessity

If the insurance provider participates based on member benefits, then coinsurance, co-payment and deductible apply.

Does Medicare Cover PHP?

Medicare could cover PHP programs if a Medicare-certified CMHC or a hospital outpatient department provides them. Medicare does not cover psychosocial programs that provide only socialization, vocational rehabilitation, or a structured environment. A program comprised primarily of social, recreational, or diversionary activity does not constitute a PHP.

Patients that meet benefit category requirements for PHP Medicare coverage comprise of two groups:

Those discharged from inpatient hospital treatment programs where PHP is in place of a continued inpatient treatment
Those who would be at risk of needing inpatient hospitalization in the absence of PHP

Over to You

Reimbursement policies for insurance billing for PHP are intended to establish general guidelines under the specific insurance providers’ plans. Therefore, providers retain the right to review and update reimbursement policy guidelines at their discretion.

We hope this short but informative article was helpful. If you have any queries about insurance billing for PHP and how to maximize your reimbursement, please contact us via email or our contact us website page.

Having an effective revenue cycle management in place for your center is essential in optimizing performance and margins. From the first contact with patients, such as verification of benefits and authorization preparation, to efficient service coding and billing, to finalizing and collecting on all claims.

Throughout the whole process, there are key elements in ensuring success with revenue collections that we will cover in this article. Finding the right people to facilitate and function technology, getting real-time eligibility and service authorizations, using data to build a successful game plan for claims denials.

Finding the right people to facilitate and function technology: Billers are in high demand now days and technology tools continually advance in ways of making jobs and tasks streamlined and accommodating for centers and their treatment teams, however, you still need people with the ability to use the tools available to them. They have to be able to use those tools effectively while understanding the billing and collection process behind them. Payers advise that we use their online tools to obtain the information we need, so it is very important to utilize those tools available to prevent delays or denials. A solid process and accountability of each person involved, maintenance training, and incentives are all factors in maximizing your revenue cycle management.

Getting real-time eligibility and service authorizations: More than 20% of denied claims are usually caused from an authorization issue. Prioritizing real-time verification of benefits and authorizations has to be the main ingredients to ensure success from beginning to end. Many payers allow the ability to get this information online also, making it even more convenient when you don’t have to call someone and wait on hold forever. Create structured processes, that is frequently updated, for prior authorizations for each payer including any benefit coverages or medically necessity requirements.

Using data to build a successful game plan for claims denials: The only way to prevent claim denials is to use data from denied claims to improve the process. Understanding the how, why, and what caused claims to be denied, you can adjust accordingly to prevent it from happening again with future claims, resulting in an improved revenue cycle management process. There are cases where it may seem impossible to overturn a denied claim, but if you do your due diligence, respond in a fast and timely manner, there’s a good chance you may surprise yourself. Exhaust all options before archiving denied claims.

These are just a few ways to possibly help increase your insurance reimbursements for your patients and decrease claim denials. This is so beneficial to everyone involved, from the insurance companies to the staff and treatment team at the center, and most importantly, the patient and their family.

I would like the opportunity to hear what has worked for your center in the past or present? What obstacles do you frequently run into when dealing with your insurance claims? I look forward to discussing more ways to improve.

Billing for IOP in a nutshell

Are you seeing changes in IOP billing for mental health in 2023? We certainly are. There are new requirements coming from UHC, BCBS, Cigna, Aetna and all the rest for all levels of care including RTC and PHP billing all the way through outpatient services.

When dealing with IOP billing specifically, there are generally a few more requirements and consistent attention needed to make sure everyone involved is happy. From the patient being able to continue their treatment, to the doctors treating the patient, and of course, making sure the insurance companies are on board with allowing the overall treatment to happen.

Behavioral health levels of care

Behavioral health facilities essentially provide four types of services that insurance companies may consider reimbursement when treating a patient.

Hospital-based inpatient programs, that require medical monitoring, nursing care, and other behavioral health services treated 24/7.
Residential treatment programs, also known as RTC, which is more of a sub-acute facility based monitoring, offering other behavioral health services.
Partial hospital programs, better known as PHP, providing services in an ambulatory setting, and generally requires 20 hours per week.
Intensive outpatient programs, known as IOP, where the patient is provided with behavioral health services for at least 9 to 19 hours a week for adults, and for children and adolescents at least six hours is generally acceptable.

There are so many different modalities and service types when billing for IOP, compared to inpatient and hospital-based programs, which in turn makes it more challenging when trying to get reimbursement.

Typical services covered in IOPs

If a facility is offering IOP services, they must be licensed at the state level and usually will treat substance abuse and most mental health disorders. Most facilities will set up a weekly schedule for IOP patients, consisting of meeting at least two hours per day, and from three to five days a week.

Typical services generally covered are:

Individual psychotherapy
Family psychotherapy
Group psychotherapy
Psycho-educational services
Medical monitoring

CMS guidelines required in order for the facility to be eligible for reimbursement for IOP services are:

The attending provider must supervise the patient at all times.
Adhering and being consistent with the initial treatment plan for the patient.
Addressing the diagnosis(s) that required admission.
Being consistent with clinical best practices. (Clinical are an important determining factor in authorization and concurrent authorization for the patient.)
Having a responsible expected time to treat the patient, generally allowing between 12 to 16 weeks of IOP care.

HCPCS and revenue codes for IOPs

IOP billing codes may differ depending on what the patient’s diagnosis is, and what services are provided primarily either for substance abuse or for mental health issues. Also, another thing to remember when billing for IOP services, if the patient has a dual-diagnosis for both substance abuse and mental health, you can generally only bill for one IOP session per day, even if both were being addressed in therapy. It is always good to document that information for the insurance company, but beware to not submit duplicate claims, as they’ll inevitably get denied and or delay payment.

S9480/0905: The per diem outpatient IOP code for psychiatric issues which may include eating disorders, is S9480, and most times is always paired with revenue code 0905. This is generally used for private payers, as Medicare does not recognize these codes.
H0015/0906: The per diem outpatient IOP code for all chemical dependency is H0015, and is always paired with revenue code 0906.

Pre-authorization, clinical and IOP all go hand in hand

Just like with all inpatient level care services, most insurance companies require all IOP services obtain a pre-authorization before reimbursement is complete. Although IOP, technically provides only two to three hours per day, most payers require at least 180 minutes of active therapy per day in order to reimburse the per diem rates.

This is why I stated earlier, that clinical documentation is a key element in supporting the full 180 minutes per day, otherwise you’ll end up with a denied claim. A concurrent authorization is generally required to continue to treat the patient and sometimes referred to as short-term interventions, where all clinical and progress of the patient is considered and decided for continued authorization.

We hope this was a helpful and informative article about IOP in particular. If you have any questions about IOP billing and how to maximize your reimbursement for behavioral health services or any other billing concern, please feel free to contact us via email, or check out a ton of extra billing resources here.

The UTAH State Board of Education has put an entity to provide oversight for those Utah mental health adolescent programs that are approved NPS providers for California!

Since it will take them some time to get up and running, the Board will provide a temporary certification to RTCs that apply for certification by August 30, 2019, until their application can be reviewed and a site visit conducted, at which time each RTC will either be approved for a 2-year term or denied certification. Both California and Illinois will accept Utah’s temporary certification.

August 30^th is the deadline so if you have not filled out the attached application, you are running out of time.

RTC Special Education Program Certification Application

On June 6th, 2019, Anthem, Inc. announced that they are in the definitive stages to acquire Beacon Health Options, Beacon currently serves more than 36 million individuals across all 50 states, and 3 million of those under comprehensive risk-based behavioral programs.

“Our member-focused, integrated clinical care model helps individuals and their families cope with their physical and behavioral health challenges. Together, we will expand access and enhance the quality of care for our mutual members. I am proud of the talented and committed team at Beacon, and we look forward to our future with Anthem.”–Russell C.Petrella, Ph.D., Beacon Health Options President and CEO

Anthem didn’t disclose a price it is paying Bain Capital Private Equity and Diamond Castle Holdings for Beacon Health, which is privately held. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019. However, this is a great opportunity for Anthem to utilizing Beacon Health Options, already stellar business model, not to forget they are the country’s largest independently held behavioral health provider.

“As Anthem works to improve lives, simplify healthcare and serve as an innovative and valuable partner, we’re focused on providing solutions that address the needs of the whole person,” -Gail K. Boudreaux, President and CEO, Anthem

The acquisition will offer the opportunity to combine both successful business models to diversify the health services and deliver market-leading integrated solutions. Progressing towards a stronger portfolio of specialized services, improved clinical expertise, and ability to offer broader provider networks and establishing positive relationships.

“We are excited to partner with Anthem to serve the behavioral health needs of more than 60 million Americans,” –Russell C. Petrella, Ph.D., Beacon Health Options President and CEO

Once the acquisition is complete Beacon, combined with Anthem’s behavioral health business, will operate as an integrated team within Anthem’s Diversified Business Group. Russell C. Petrella, Ph.D., Beacon Health Options President and CEO, as well as other key members of Beacon’s senior team, will join Anthem’s Diversified Business Group to lead the efforts to offer innovative behavioral health solutions and further expand this business.

“With an extensive track record in behavioral health, Beacon fits well with our strategy to better manage the needs of populations with chronic and complex conditions, and deliver integrated whole health solutions. Together with Beacon, we will enhance our capabilities to serve state partners, health plans and employer groups as they seek to address consumer behavioral health needs.” -Gail K. Boudreaux, President and CEO, Anthem

We are excited and believe this is very significant as more insurers are working on addressing the determinants of care for mental illness that fall outside of the traditional medical care. One out of every five adults suffers from mental illness, and is only increasing, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

What are your thoughts on this acquisition? Is this good or bad, why so?

Did you know that nearly one out of every five Americans had a mental illness last year? Denying coverage is now being looked at deeper than just a financial issue, as some see it as a human rights issue.

Families are suffering from the strict system placed on behavioral health insurance processes. A system that fails the needs of people who need it the most, because of not meeting insurance company’s, “medical necessity”, clause.

Without a reasonable doubt, this is more than a concern for so many Americans who suffer from behavioral health illnesses and can’t seem to get the adequate treatment needed to overcome this difficult roadblock.

A psychiatrist once said,

“Before I decided to specialize in psychiatry, I assumed a person in need of mental health care would have the same access to treatment one has for medical conditions like kidney stones, pneumonia or seizures. Instead, mental health patients and their providers face a mountain of bureaucratic obstacles that other patients are spared.”

Imagine being a doctor, and having to tell someone or even a child who desperately needs treatment, that they aren’t considered depressed enough, or their presenting conditions do not meet the most critical states of mental illness in order to be treated.

With adolescent mental health illnesses on the rise, this has to be one of the most ignored issues that we face in America today. According to the new report, diagnoses of “Major Depressive Disorder”, have risen to over 30 percent since 2013, and now affects an estimated 9 million commercially insured Americans.

Teen depression rates are increasing so rapidly, if we don’t figure out a better solution, we will be headed for an array of consequences. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there were 72,000 deaths from opioid overdoses last year and more than 43,000 suicides reported in 2017.

Nowadays the requirement to even be admitted into a psychiatric facility is set so high, it can be very frustrating when attempting to get prior authorization for treatment. Even if patients have just attempted suicide, shockingly many insurers still require prior authorization by phone before they can step foot inside of the facility.

“Even in spite of the fact that we’re in the midst of the biggest public health crisis of our time of overdose and suicide, we as a nation have yet to come to grips with this in the way that it needs to be,” – Former congressman and mental health care advocate Patrick Kennedy.

For any other medical hospitalization, nothing is really required and the insurers trust the judgment of the providers. Not the same for psychiatric hospitalizations and treatment centers. In the U.S., denials for mental health care occur three times as frequently as denials for general medical care.

The process of finding and funding adequate mental health treatment is a very daunting task, and most times insurers will simply deny treatment initially knowing that most people are going through so much that will won’t challenge denials of care, leaving them feeling lost and confused and only adds to the stress they are already dealing with.

It’s time to make mental health illness a priority in not only fighting the stigma but also the discrimination set forth from the insurance companies. This system continues to get worse and totally does everything they can to stop treating those who need it, simply based on the fact that they are not considered depressed enough, or suicidal enough to please their extreme criteria. Ask yourself, why isn’t mental health illnesses being looked at as serious as cancer, diabetes, or cardiovascular diseases?

It’s quite frustrating when just 10 years ago, a law passed called the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, also known as the Federal Parity Law. The law requires most insurers to cover illnesses of the brain, such as depression or addiction, no more restrictively than they cover illnesses of the body.

“There are still tons of roadblocks on the policy side and, frankly, in spite of the fact Congress thinks they’ve appropriated some gargantuan amount of money, it still represents less than one-fifth of what we were spending on HIV/AIDS during the AIDS crisis when we were losing far fewer people than we’re currently losing today,” – Patrick Kennedy

In a recent study conducted by a private research company and Georgetown University, researchers found the following listed below.

Insurers regularly denied coverage to people with pre-existing mental or substance use conditions;
Insurers imposed a 20 to 50 percent increase in premiums for people with a history of mental health or substance use conditions;
Insurers offered superficial coverage that did not meet essential needs; and
Insurers actively created barriers and limited access to mental health and substance use treatment.

The only way we can see any change is by standing up and speaking out on unjust insurance denials and registering a complaint with your health plan. The more we do this, we can help pressure elected officials, insurance commissioners, and the attorneys general to enforce federal and state parity laws in favor of the patients who need the attention and treatment their insurance plan should be covering.

Nothing will ever change if we don’t speak up and hold insurance companies accountable. We must demand equality for those with mental health and addiction challenges. We cannot stand idly by while insurance companies break the law, at the expense of American families.

Help for Mental Illnesses. Get Immediate Help. If you are in crisis and need immediate support or intervention, call, or go the website of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255). Trained crisis workers are available to talk 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Have questions or need help with insurance claims and or denials, we are always here to answer or help in anyway possible.

Truly being yourself now days is a constant battle, and a lot of times it inhibits our true potential in life.

When you add opinions from others, generational religious beliefs, stigmas of all sorts, or blatant hate into the picture, you can see why mental health illness is such an epidemic in our day in age. Many will have their own theories for why it has come to be, and I would like to share mine with you in this four-part blog called, Mental Health Illness- Cause & Cure.

I believe there’s an undeniable dynamic between the Cause and effects of our daily lifestyle and the Cure that is administered that sometimes not always formulated or executed properly…leaving more and more people in a spin cycle for the rest of their life.

Daily life for most consists of extreme stress, expectations, disappointments, and very little joy. We emphasize our trials in life so much that we take very little notice of the happiness that we encounter. Where our attention is spent the most on a daily basis is what will trigger good or bad thoughts and feelings.

Our brain is one of the most powerful parts of our body…of course, we need our heart to keep us alive ultimately, but what I’m referring to is the impact our brain has in setting the stage for our day to day life, interpreting feelings appropriately, etc. The magic that can be done by just thinking of something great and wonderful, the goosebumps you get when you go to a concert and hear your favorite song live, the tears of happiness you shed on your daughter’s wedding day. These are all feelings and emotions that start and manifest in our brain.

Think positive, be positive! So cliche, right? It sounds really simple and easy, but for some because of their past experiences and or current situations, that way of thinking is very foreign. Honestly probably excluded from consideration because they just don’t believe in anything going right for them or do not want to think positively because it seems so bad.

One thing that we may not even consider to be an issue in today’s modern age is Social Media. We all love waking up to notifications that 50 people liked your Instagram picture you posted of what you ate last night at your favorite cantina in San Diego. Or the comments we get on our Facebook page about who’s going to your 20 years high school anniversary. These are all fine and dandy, and in a perfect world, that’s all it would be. Right? It’s not!

We all know we can’t have the good without the bad. Maybe we have caused some of that bad in some fashion. The stress and anxiety associated with dealing with the negative impact of social media can cause one to become consumed and engulfed in their online personas, that it takes away from us being happy in real life. Those endorphins we feel from 100 likes are just as real as the emotional breakdown from an argument or debate we have on about things on social media that didn’t go our way.

Over time all we are doing is playing a game on a daily basis of good vs. bad feelings by loading up our social media guns. All we are doing is taking shots at each others posts, and giving our opinion regardless is if hurts someone feelings and don’t even realize it most times because we love the feeling of being right or the bearer of information. We all deal with life differently and have our individual ways of thinking about certain touchy issues, so what you perceive as innocent may really be negative to someone else.

Now don’t get me wrong, I understand there are useful and genuine posts that are intended to help someone who is going through a hard time or motivational memes that brightened up your day, but let us be honest..after awhile no one wants to see or hear that all day long. We want drama, bad news from around the world, gossip over meaningless reality shows, video clips that enrage our souls, and a platform to stand upon and give your own two cents. That’s what Social Media is for right?

But don’t you think after all of the back and forths and rights and wrongs, that it has a negative impact on your mental health in some manner? I think so and it is just the beginning of how I feel technology is being used against the good of humankind because we are too overly informed about every subject in the world you can think of, and we want the information right now!

The American Academy of Pediatrics has warned about the potential for negative effects of social media in young kids and teens, including cyber-bullying and what they call, “Facebook depression.” But the same risks may be true for adults, across generations.

In a previous blog about Social Media and Mental Health, you can see how bad of an influence it can have on our child’s lives even though it a very familiar way of communication for kids nowadays. This is something that I believe will not get better going forward, as big businesses and users now know how to target and track each person’s online activity, making it extra hard to avoid desired or unwanted feeds on social media.

These are just a few examples of how social media can negatively affect your overall mental health and maybe it’ll just make you more aware of your own usage of how and what you’re doing on your social media platforms.

Next week I’ll be talking about how another Cause that I feel contributes to the Mental Health Illness epidemic that is hindering some from being truly happy. Stay tuned!

Attention to all of the Utah based NATSAP programs and allies! Be aware of the current challenges working with outside agencies.

Many Utah programs currently are approved by the California Department of Education to provide mental health and educational services to their students. These students are placed outside of the state of CA because the school district and the family have determined that all lower levels of intervention in their state have been tried and the student has failed. Therefore a decision will be made during the students IEP meeting to seek placement outside of the state, sending an abundance of students here to Utah to seek treatment.

During the past few months, schools have been notified by the state of IL that they are no longer willing to seek placement for their students in Utah because the state of Utah does not regulate nonpublic special education facilities. So all of the Utah based programs that have been working with the state of IL are no longer able to accept and work with this state.

Now the state of CA has decided to follow in the footsteps of the state of IL. All affiliated programs will be receiving a letter from the California Department of Education in the next month indicating that they have until September 30, 2019, to come into compliance with the standard that the State of Utah Department of Education will provide regulation over the nonpublic special education facilities.

The President of the NATSAP has stated that he feels an obligation to the over 300+ families that have students currently in placement in Utah, as well as the hundreds of employees that will be affected in the programs provided if they do not address this problem right away.

Therefore they will be hosting a meeting on Tuesday, August 21^st at 11:00. You can either join the meeting by conference call or come in person to Youth Care. This meeting is designed to lay out an action plan regarding how they can all work together to get the State Office of Education to regulate Special Education Schools.

There is no limit to the number of individuals from programs that you are interested in joining the meeting. They anticipate that Executive Directors and Academic Directors will be in attendance, but anyone from their programs are more than welcome to attend.

Non-Suicidal Self-injury (NSSI), is common with all age groups, however, research shows it is alarming common amongst young children.

Hearing that really opened my eyes, and made me want to study about it, and bring awareness to this serious subject that is continuing to affect kids of this generation. If you have never heard of NSSI, it is when somebody intentionally damages or injure their body, to temporarily make them feel better. As crazy as that may sound, the idea of purposely inflicting injury to oneself as a coping mechanism, seems very counterintuitive to most of us. The reality is, it is happening and we all need to be educated on breaking down some of the most common stereotypes surrounding NSSI.

“Hush little baby, Dont you cry, Dont cut your arms, Dont say goodbye. Put down that razor, Put down that light, It maybe hard but, You’ll win this fight.” – Emily Giffin

There are already many negative stereotypes regarding mental health due to a lack of understanding, and this has led to a strong social stigma about mental illness. But most don’t realize the negative effect it has on the lives of people living with mental health problems. So let’s discuss some of the stereotypes and myths attached to self-harm/self-injury, and NSSI in particular.

Myth #1: Individuals who hurt themselves purposely are actually trying to kill themselves, even if they deny it.

Although both suicide and NSSI involve intentional injury to oneself, they are distinct behaviors. By its very definition, the term NSSI describes the intentional injury of one’s own body tissue without suicidal intent. Generally, they are trying to cope with difficult feelings or circumstances they may be dealing with in their lives, and is sometimes referred to as,“Emotion Regulation Strategy”.

However, research has shown that history of self-injury without suicidal intent is a key risk factor for attempted suicide, and visa-versa, a large number of people with a history of suicide attempts also reported a history of non-suicidal self-injury. Although the behaviors are distinct, the link between them further emphasizes the need to address NSSI.

“people say things meant to rip you in half but you hold the power to not turn their words into a knife and cut yourself” – Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey

Myth #2: Women are usually at risk for this behavior than men.

This is simply not true! Rates of NSSI, are actually similar between men and women. Research shows when looking at cases of self-harm/self-injury, the split between men and women is usually 50/50. The way the exhibit NSSI, may be different, but both are equally likely to hurt themselves in some way. Studies show that women are more likely to cut and scratch, and men are more likely to burn themselves. How you hurt yourself is no different, and both men and women need to get help.

Myth #3: When people say NSSI, you mean they are cutting themselves.

Growing up we may have heard of someone cutting themselves, and was looked at as the most common behavior of course, but actually, recent studies show that scratching and skin-picking may be as common as, if not more common than cutting.

Generally when people hear or talk about NSSI, they automatically only think of or consider cutting and burning as self-harm/self-injury. However, there are many other ways to inflict physical harm. Other common behaviors include picking at the skin or scabs, biting, self-hitting or banging their head on something, which can also lead to cognitive damage and issues.

“I can feel the hurt. There’s something good about it. Mostly it makes me stop remembering.”
― Albert Borris, Crash Into Me

Given the significant negative consequences associated with NSSI, like scarring, infection, increased risk of self-injury, depression, anxiety, and shame, it is essential that we correct these myths. Only by educating ourselves about NSSI will we be able to prevent misdiagnosis and make sure that our friend, coworker, brother, mother, or child gets the treatment that he or she really needs.

If you or someone you know needs help, use the information below.

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

I’m from a time that I truly consider, “The Golden Age”, and I know that subject alone is a whole-nother discussion in itself. But to shine some insight on today’s blog, I have to tell you how cool growing up in the 80’s, 90’s, and the beginning of the “Y2K Era”, really was.

Those who grew up in those times got to witness greatness like, Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson, George Michael to Will Smith, 2Pac, and Biggie Smalls…game consoles like Sega Genesis, Nintendo to the all-time great Playstation…Magic Johnson and the Lakers to Michael Jordan and the Bulls winning 6 championship rings! Just to name a few things so dang wonderful about that era. Just realized how many times I mentioned, Michael, a great name I guess.

Saying all of that takes me back. I remember very clearly how I let my first crush in elementary know how much I liked her, but it wasn’t through a meme, picture, or even a text. I actually had to write it out on a piece of paper, decorated it with flowers and I think I even sprayed a little cologne on it, word around town was that always worked.

Once I was done, I won’t say I was an origami expert, but I could have fooled you by the way I folded it up into a star-shaped masterpiece. The emotions and connection I had with that first love letter, will never be forgotten, although I forgot the outcome…I’m sure I was happy in the end.

That was an example of how life was so much different than it is now. You really had to interact with someone to communicate. Pick up a phone to ask somebody for a ride…no uber or lyft, wait for any TV show or game to come on to watch it only at the time it said it would be on…no on-demand or write a real apology letter to your principal…I wasn’t always in trouble though.

If I wanted to let everyone know how you were feeling at any point in time, you had to actually tell them to their face. No social media or fancy gadgets that I sometimes refer to us as being cyborgs in a sense, because all of our phones nowadays are just an extension of our hands, with the capabilities of knowing and searching for unlimited things for educating, entertaining, or useless information available on the internet.

I believe this has been a gift and a curse to mankind. Having the ability to pretty much do anything you want in an instant, has programmed our mental and emotional states to become dependent on technology and all of its glamour. Social media being at the front of the line as a huge conversation piece due to the impact that it is having on our kids and the younger generations who have no idea or concept of the old ways of life.

Social media presents the ability for those to broadcast their lives to the whole world in real time, with feedback and responses in seconds. Although this allows the world to be interconnected, it has also caused a worldwide mental health problem. So much that now suicide is taking the front seat in many cases around the world.

We have seen extremely sad stories like here in the United States, where a 10-year-old Ashawty Davis, killed herself after a video of her fight at school went viral. Not even a week later, Rosalie Avila, just 13 years old, hung herself after receiving abusive messages online.

This is not just happening here in the United States. In Japan, where suicide rates are among the highest in the world at an astonishing 19.7 per 100,000 people, according to a 2015 study done by the World Health Organization, has also experienced many deaths linked to social media. Just last October, nine young adults aged 15-26, were found dead after being targeted over social media. The suspect Takahiro Shiraishi allegedly found his victims using Twitter and them using the hashtag #suiciderecruitment. Since then Twitter has altered its rules regarding violence and self-harm.

Just last December, a popular YouTube blogger named Logan Paul, posted a video of him making fun of a man who hung himself and found in Japan’s infamous “suicide forest”, located in the Akutagawa forest. This, of course, brought negative backlash highlighting how social media can be used to mock mental illness.

Although Japan’s suicide rates are high, the world’s highest rates in the year of 2015, were found in Europe, mainly in Russia, Poland, and Lithuania. I know there are other factors to consider, its still a surprising reality. Governments worldwide are now putting in place different policies to address social media’s link to mental health.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC), conducted a study that showed suicide rates among children aged 15-19 reached an all-time high in 2015. This same rate mimics the arrival of social media sharing platforms, which the youth have totally embraced and live by on a daily basis. So you have to ask yourself, will changing the rules on social media platforms really make a difference…or is it really just band-aid on a wound that has been infected for years?

Just as the American Journal of Epistemology, states in a study, they found the link between mental health and social media lies in the lack of “in-person” interactions. The millennial generation has been raised in a time where most communication is done online rather than in-person. Using all types of media such as text messaging, pictures, videos, memes, or likes and commenting on each other’s posts on their social media platforms. The study could not prove that a direct relationship between depression and social media, it did conclude that it does, “increase the risk of mental health problems and might compromise well-being more generally.”

One of the world’s most popular social media platforms, Instagram, was named one of the worst when looking at one’s mental health. The Royal Society for Public Health, researched and found that image-based platforms are worse for mental health than other social media platforms. Images, of course, register faster in our brains, but on the contrary, in the study of YouTube, it was looked at as the most positive social media platform..maybe due to the fact that it explains something rather than just a still image.

As with anything else, I believe we need to control how much and when to use social media. It definitely has its pros and cons. Just like this blog post, it can be beneficial in spreading awareness, but as we just discussed, it can also bring negative messages that can support suicide or damage to one’s mental health, and we need to address and continue to implement the help that is available for those dealing with mental illnesses.

Here in the United States, you can reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at, 1-800-273-8255, or go to their website, where they have an online chat feature and other great resources for you to utilize and seek help for yourself or someone in need. Don’t hesitate if you feel your child or someone you love is at risk for suicide. Remember, we are all we got…and it’s always better to safe than sorry.