The Silent Epidemic – The Mental Health Crisis in Rural America Part Three: Breaking the Silence – A Conversation with Bath Community Hospital’s Behavioral Health Team

In Part One, we explored the unseen struggles of mental health in rural America. In the Allegheny Highlands, stigma and silence often keep people from asking for help. Too many convince themselves they just need to “tough it out,” even when they know something’s wrong.

In Part Two, we looked at what happens when people are ready to ask for help — but there’s nowhere to turn. With too few providers, long wait times, and a system stretched thin, many residents are left waiting months for care, traveling hours to the nearest therapist, or simply giving up altogether.

Now, in Part Three, I sit down with Pari Baker and Eric Gutierrez from Bath Community Hospital’s Behavioral Health team.

Pari helped build the program from the ground up, and Eric joined the team in 2023, thanks to a $75,000 grant from the Virginia Health Care Foundation — funding that made it possible to bring full-time counseling services to our community.

Together, Pari and Eric offer a firsthand look at what it’s like to provide mental health care in a rural setting. They talk about the weight of unmet demand and the importance of having professionals who truly understand the community they serve.

Their insights help paint a clearer picture of where we are — and what it’s going to take to make mental health care more accessible for everyone in the Allegheny Highlands.

The full series is available at AlleghenyMountainRadio.org.