I have posted items about mental health issues before, as we know that mental illness afflicts people with physical disabilities disproportionately. In addition, the physical disabilities advocacy world often coincides with that of psychiatric disabilities community.

The following is an op-ed by Glenn Liebman, prominent mental health advocate and President and CEO of the Mental Health Association in NYS. In addition to emphasizing the need for strong community-based mental health services (which help keep people out of residential facilities and emergency rooms), it highlights the need of the advocate community to help the state come up with ways to eliminate unnecessary and inappropriate use of state funds. CDR and Medicaid Matters support efforts to spend public dollars in a more efficient and effective manner, especially when it is in the best interest of the people we represent and work with.

Safeguard N.Y.’S Mental Health Care

By Glenn Liebman, Executive Director, MHA of New York State
Albany Times Union
Monday, November 24, 2008

Gov. David Paterson rightly has been warning about the economic storm that we are facing, and has shown a real willingness to make some difficult decisions.We all know that pain has to be shared in difficult times, but in mental health, it seems all we face are difficult times. Through strong leadership from the governor and the Legislature, we have won some hard fought victories for people with psychiatric disabilities, such as Timothy’s Law and prison reform, and additional funding for housing and the mental health work force. That is all just one step forward in the fight to aid people in their recovery from psychiatric disabilities.

The leap that we need is robust funding dedicated to the myriad needs of people with psychiatric disabilities, including funding for clinical services, drop-in centers, employment, education, peer services, outreach, jail diversion, youth and children’s services and, of course, housing. We need funding for a community mental health system that responds to the individualized needs of people with psychiatric disabilities.
In good times, there was not a great deal of funding added to community programs (with the exception of the 1993 reinvestment legislation). In bad times, we have faired far worse than other areas of the budget. This year alone, we have already faced two rounds of cuts to mental health services.

There are a number of reasons why mental health funding should not be cut. People recover from psychiatric disabilities much like an individual with heart disease recovers with early intervention and appropriate after-care. The after-care for mental health is community based mental health services.

Even in difficult financial times, can you imagine cutting any cardiac care services? There would be people screaming in the streets.

The same should be true for community mental health care. People who are recovering from a psychiatric disability should not have to face draconian service cuts and long waiting lists for their needs.

The other reason we should not cut community mental health services is that they save the state money. If community services were cut, it is likely that there would be many people who would end up in emergency rooms, shelters and jails. All those settings are much more costly to New York’s taxpayers.

As advocates, we are not just in the business of pointing out why you can’t cut funding, we are also in the business of pointing out where the budget should be cut. In mental health, there is a recent program that could and should be dramatically cut — the sex offender program.

Shortly after former Gov. Eliot Spitzer took office, he signed legislation that provided housing for sex offenders in secure treatment facilities. These secure facilities are in several of the state’s psychiatric hospitals. We were strongly opposed to the legislation, not because of empathy for sex offenders, but because much of the population of people in state psychiatric facilities are past victims of violence and the least therapeutic environment for them would be to be housed alongside sex offenders.

We also felt strongly because of the large cost of the program. It also remains incredibly stigmatizing to equate individuals with psychiatric disabilities with sex offenders.

We have always maintained that sex offenders should not be housed in psychiatric hospitals. Instead, they should be housed on the grounds of correctional facilities or with intense parole supervision. That is the much more appropriate, cost effective venue for offenders.

There are less then 200 people in New York who are in the sex offender programs housed in the state psychiatric hospitals. The funding for that program is $50 million a year. If you do the math, then you are talking about $400,000 per individual currently housed in these treatment facilities. These offenders could be housed in existing correctional facilities at a fraction of the cost.

It is a common sense and logical approach that is a win for all New Yorkers. The state is able to save millions of dollars from mental health without impacting the community mental health structure, there is more appropriate and safer placement for sex offenders and you also help de-stigmatize mental illness by not equating offender with people with psychiatric disabilities.

One of the great strengths of Paterson is his logic and common sense. We hope that he realizes that the only logical, common sense way to save mental health funding is to relocate and cut the sex offender program. That would be a victory for all New Yorkers at no cost to our community.

Glenn Liebman is CEO of the Mental Health Association in New York State.