RALEIGH -- So here we are, once again, facing not only the end of a year but the end of a decade. Indeed, hopefully the end of an era, that era being mental health reform in North Carolina and its legacy.
We find ourselves at the dawning of a new year, a new decade and hopefully a new era - an era of transformation and true mental health revitalization.
We come to this point suffering from what I am increasingly calling the cumulative effect.
The cumulative effect is the result of the last 10 years of "reform" - of pathetic policy decisions by elected officials and those that they have appointed. It's the cumulative effect of state dollar cuts, massive Medicaid cuts, intolerable cash flow from the state to counties and Local Management Entities, and it is the unbelievable rush to change, with no notice, no time to prepare and often with change that is retroactive.
The cumulative effect is not a pretty sight when it comes to the mental health service system in our state.
The cumulative effect is not looking to get better when legislators say it's more important to get re-elected than to do the right thing because next year is the redistricting year. The cumulative effect doesn't get better when funds are cut by nearly one-fourth to community mental health, significantly more than to education.
The cumulative effect ultimately means lives, it means jobs, and it means well-being.
As we approach this new decade, this new year, the cumulative effect must now turn around. The cumulative effect must now be put in perspective of advances in research and technology that equate to advances in treatment, supports and services. The cumulative effect now must mean the restoration of dollars, not to where they were but to where they truly should be to meet the need of our state's citizens; they deserve this, we all deserve this.
The cumulative effect's turning around means the restoration of jobs across the state. This is an economic disaster that did not have to happen, but because of short-sighted political aspirations and considerations, it did happen.
The cumulative effect should not be that those people see the inside of a state hospital, an emergency room, a jail, a prison, but rather the cumulative effect should be those that receive their services each and every day in a manner that they deserve. The cumulative effect should be that these individuals are going back to work, that they are getting their own place to live, and that they are building their families, their careers, their lives.
In 2010 and beyond, let's strive to change the cumulative effect and understand the power to build up and not just to tear down. This is one advocate's perspective.
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