Episode 50: Where are all the psychiatrists?

As a psychiatrist, Christin Drake has to turn away potential new patients every day — there just aren’t enough hours in the day to take them on. She doesn’t relish the rejection, especially when it’s for another Black woman who is looking to find one of the few psychiatrists who shares that identity and experience. But with the mental health crises brought on by the pandemic and an aging, shrinking population of psychiatrists, the strain on Drake and her colleagues is getting worse. This week, she speaks about what’s causing a dearth of mental health clinicians across the country, why it’s so damaging, and what can be done to ease it.