Clock is ticking for mental health clients

Disability Rights CA is considering suing the county on behalf of mentally ill clients who will be losing their services and switched to as yet unformed mental health services, run by the county. Even the county admits “many” people will fall through the cracks. Lives WILL be lost and the setbacks will be wide. Read here in SN&R.

As countless mental health workers have told me throughout my reporting, there is great doubt that the county can replicate services, and get all 6,500 displaced county mental health clients to their respective new clinics, by July 1.

For the clients, of course, doubt brings great fear. As many of them will readily tell you, before establishing with their Regional Support Team, (a mental health clinic to you and me), their lives were unmanageable, unfocused, and dominated by their illness. After receiving proper medication support, regular visits with their case manager (or service coordinator), availing themselves of specialized groups, etc., their lives began to turn around. Their illness — once so prominent in their lives, began to ebb. Perhaps the voices diminished. Perhaps they learned to become more social. Perhaps they gained employment. Whatever their personal goals, they became reachable.

And now the county aims to tear that away and pluck them down in an as yet unknown system, with new workers, in as-yet-to-be-decided locations.

Will some make the transition will little problem? You bet.

Many more, however, will have so much difficulty that they will drop out alltogether. And, when their illness resurfaces as it will, they wil overcrowd our ERs, which are illequipped to help them. They will roam our streets, homeless. They will become victims of crime. Their families will ask law enforcement to intervene. They will commit suicide.

It all comes down to dollars, folks.

But it’s not over yet.

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors are elected officials — the folks in the Department of Behavioral Health are not — and right now, those are the folks who are driving this movement. The Supes have yet to vote.

You still have time to make your voice heard. Find out who YOUR supervisor is and lobby.

The supervisors represent OUR interests. Is it in our interests to know that we’re personally responsible for setting back the gains made by 6,500 seriously mentally ill individuals who are working diligently to get their life on track? Is it in OUR interests to increase the homeless population? To overflow the local ERs? To increase the suicide rate?

There’s got to be a better way.

Until next time.

Keep the faith.

AY