(Guest commentary in Asheville Citizen-Times highlighting North Carolina’s shameful record in meeting mental health concerns.)
If recent headlines noting North Carolina as “about average” or “middle of the pack” when it comes to mental health budget cuts make you think things aren’t all that bad, think again.
A recent report from the National Alliance on Mental Illness ranks our state 24th since 2009 with cuts of 1.2 percent. Taken separately though, the 2011-2012 decrease of 7.3 percent is the nation’s fourth largest. Of course, in a state that ranks 43rd in per capita spending on mental health, any cuts have human consequences. And with further cuts looming at both state and federal levels, chances are North Carolina’s high ranking as a state of shame is assured.
“State of Shame” was in fact the title of a recent segment of NBC’s Rock Center on the sterilization of thousands of North Carolinians deemed to have genetic defects or mental illness, a broadcast that was just one of many low points over the past six months.
In July, the U.S. Department of Justice found the state in violation of the Americans with Disabilities and Olmstead Acts, the latter mandating the community mental health treatment that was the impetus for failed mental health reform efforts. The DOJ report tells of a bleak and hopeless existence for more than 7,000 citizens inappropriately warehoused in adult care homes.
In September, yet another large mental health service provider fell victim to the state’s dysfunctional system with the closure of New River Behavioral Healthcare, which served 13,000 clients in eight northwestern counties.
The state continues to look at privatizing care for forensic psychiatric patients accused of serious crimes, the likely contractor not based in healthcare but the subsidiary of a large private prison company. Almost any care is preferable, however, to that of the state’s prison system, with recent reports of mentally ill inmates being stripped and strapped to beds in cells reeking of urine and feces. And while such shameful conditions aren’t overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services, they speak volumes for public and political apathy.
Meanwhile, the federally mandated protection agency, Disability Rights North Carolina, continues to investigate a seemingly endless stream of neglect, abuse and even death.
In the face of all this, it’s hard to take pride in being a North Carolinian. But let our state’s shame motivate you to get involved. Learn more from NAMI Western Carolina at namiwnc.org and Disability Rights North Carolina at disabilityrightsnc.org. Contact your state and national legislators asking them to strengthen, not cut, mental health services. In the process, perhaps we can help restore some of our state’s lost dignity.