I applaud your efforts to highlight the mess our state has made of our mental health system. From the murky service definitions and ever-changing guidelines and forms handed down by the state to the bumbling bureaucracy of the Local Management Entities and the substandard services offered by too many under-qualified providers, the so-called mental health reform has played out like a slow-moving train wreck. There should be no doubt that the reform itself is in sore need of reforming.

However, lest we err again, let us proceed this time with care and thoughtfulness. We must not lose sight of the fact that there are many children, adults and families across our state affected by mental illness who rely on the mental health services offered by their counties. Our legislators and state policymakers can be much too quick to solve a problem by pulling funding, dissolving services without offering viable and effective replacements and punishing the good along with the bad.

Taking away dollars from our botched system will not fix its problems and will jeopardize the well-being of the thousands who need services. Whether it be through the schools, juvenile justice system, welfare or the criminal courts, we will pay the bill for those whose needs are met with money we move too quickly to cut from the budget.

Ben King

Hillsborough