Last week, my clients sadly walked out of my office unsure of when they would see a therapist again and whether that therapist would be me.

For nearly 20 years, I served as a clinical team leader of an effective, caring, dedicated group of professionals at a rural mental health center. Less than two years after our center was "divested and privatized," the company that had been selected as the provider of outpatient services decided to stop operations. Now it was time to attempt to provide closure to people who could not comprehend that their trusted psychiatrist, therapist and community services worker would no longer be able to assist them.

How do I explain to my clients who need my help that the governor chose a secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to pursue a policy that places their treatment in the hands of a company that must make a profit? If making money from providing services to the impoverished with illnesses were profitable, then where are all the companies wanting to take over the county health department or the county Department of Social Services?

John Mader

Carrboro

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