Nationwide shortage of child psychiatrists leaves local parents scrambling for help

Critical shortages of child psychiatrists are forcing some parents to travel miles to see a specialist.

In our area some counties don’t have any practicing child psychiatrists. Others simply don’t have enough to meet the need.

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It’s something Mindy Wadley, an Action News Jax producer, experienced first when her 12-year-old daughter opened up to her about what she was going through.

“She came to me she told me that she was experiencing some symptoms of depression,” Wadley said.

Wadley knew it wasn’t something to take lightly, but when she began calling local providers, she hit road blocks. “Calling and being told, 'We’re not accepting new patients' over and over and over again,” Wadley said.

She finally found a doctor but after a year, that doctor suddenly left.

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“When I called to schedule that appointment and was told there’s no one here who sees pediatric patients. I was blindsided,” Wadley said.

According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Florida has a severe shortage of youth psychiatrists.

In Duval County, there are 15 certified child and teen psychiatrists for a population of more than 200,000 people 18 and younger.

Nassau, Baker, Columbia, Union, Bradford and Putnam have zero providers, according to AACAP.org.

In Georgia, Pierce, Brantley and Camden counties also don’t have any providers.

Wadley isn’t surprised by the data.

“It’s a crisis, it’s an emergency, it’s a nationwide emergency,” she said.

A lack of federal funding for more mental health services may be to blame. The AACAP said the longer children wait to see a specialist, the more difficult it’ll be to treat them.

Meredith is no longer seeing a psychiatrist, but she occasionally checks in with a therapist.

Wadley said she’s seen a transformation.

“She laughs all the time,” she said. “She’s a happy kid.”