Dark Cloud Over Mental Health

Kudos to Indy for a story that addresses some questions and poses others that still elude answers. I have no doubt that the journalists following this story will work to bring the truth to us all about the lingering financial woes of this dept. Let's hope the solutions are also news worthy.
This story is far from over.

It's great that the County Supervisors are willing to look for revenue in creative ways to fund services and housing for the mentally ill. There is potentially revenue at the state level - Mental Health Service Act money. There is Tobacco Settlement money. There is prioritizing funds for different departments. The County mental health execs need help in developing some optimism about preserving the system of care. If we were to adopt the plan of massive cuts to services and housing for the mentally ill that County mental health just came up with, it would be like Hurricane Katrina hitting the most vulnerable in Santa Barbara County. We are fortunately turning a corner here, and with strong advocacy from the community, and caring elected officials, we are collectively directing the hurricane back out to sea.

So I watched the meeting on tv and what I don't understand is how this author of the Mental Health Services Act comes down and tries to explain that he has ideas to help Mental Health get money and Supervisor Carbajal cuts him off and the director Detrick doesn't seem interested. And then nobody asks him any questions when the Supervisors started discussing motions. If I had an expert who wrote the bill tell me that there are ways to solve some of the cuts, I would sure as hell be picking that guy's brain. Doesn't anyone on the Board of Supervisors care cause it sure doesn't seem like the Mental Health Department cares!

Do you notice how the majority of the people who comment on mental health issues remain anonymous? In the past, I would have attributed it to the stigma society placed (and still does) on the mentally ill. Today, it is both that, and the fact that the people who comment are deathly afraid that they or their loved ones will be punished by the very system them look to for support.

One would expect that persons working in the public mental health field would be compassionate, caring, supportive, dedicated, and upbeat. Quite the contrary -- with resources diminishing EVERY YEAR, they are bitter, angry, disillusioned, sometimes incompetent, burned out, underpaid, overworked, ignored, and emotionally drained by a system that underserves the population they are charged with helping, and then cuts some more. This can result in client neglect, or even worse, abuse, which brings me back to my first observation about the anonymity of those speaking up for the mentally ill.

I have had the misfortune to have a family member require mental health services for many years, and he or she (I'm not telling) has lived in unsafe, noisy, deteriorating, crime-ridden housing provided by the system without speaking up because of the fear that they would be evicted for speaking up. (and they were).
Mentally-ill people are regarded by society as "less than" people - they deserve less than "normal' people, they bother us on the street, they sometimes talk to themselves - it would just be better if we did not have to see them (like the images of starving babies from Darfur). Unfortunately, these people live in Santa Barbara, CA, USA, not Darfur, and we still throw them away.

Since the State Penal system has replaced the Mental Health system as the treatment of choice for these unfortunate folks, they become criminals, occupy jail beds, tie up our overloaded court system (they don't belong in jail - they need ongoing treatment). How much does it cost to house a jail inmate per day? How much will the new jail cost? How much would proper treatment cost?

Shame on us as a society for allowing this to happen.

There must be an error at the start of this story when Ann Detrick says her job is not hard. How can cutting the heart out of these vital services be easy? I don't get it. Is it because she's not from Santa Barbara?

From what I hear Dr. Detrick is already thinking of resigning !

What's even worse is the department is hiring back their own patients to work for them! It's absolutely shameful.

The comment about the County MH dept being shameful for hiring back its own patients is obviously from a person who is not familiar with the practice of hiring peer to peer employees, and people who are functioning at a level where they can contribute to our culture based on their experience. Wow, lady, do you want people to just lay around even if they are qualified to work and want to work?

Mr. Underpanties,

Do you work with me at ADMHS, you sound awfully familiar!

There is much more happening here than the cutting of vital programs. The situation is dire enough without removing the programs that kept the mental health system running fairly smoothly through the past decade.

We are already seeing the effects of the possibility of some of these programs going away. Crises have increased. People are upset because the agencies they have established relationships with may not be here any longer. It is not simply the agency that has made this relationship successful. It is the human connection, the interaction and the rapport that was built over many, many years that made this successful. It simply doesn't make sense to believe that a new agency or even an agency with a new name without this same rapport will be able to do the same work and avert crises, at least not immediately, and probably not for years, as is true of the other agencies that have worked hard in your community.

Another concern is that County Mental Health is having to lay off people already. In addition to this, they will have an influx of new admissions into an already overtaxed system. One person made the comment that they are too busy to see everyone on a regular basis. They will, however, be available if someone goes into crisis. Really? There are 150 misplaced severely mentally ill people that are being transferred to the county or to other agencies just from one program closing. The new CARES program only has 12 beds.

It costs so much money to hospitalize someone. A 72-hour hold may cost close to $2400 ($800/avg per day - this is a conservative amount). If we take away the foundation, then even the ones that were doing well in the community will panic and will be hospitalized. This is going to have huge repercussions in our community. We are also going to have an increase in jail time. This is all certainly not going to save the county any money. In the long run, we will end up spending more money with all the increased hospitalizations and jail time. Not to mention the priceless cost of lives lost.