Here's an update from the Austin American-Statesman on efforts aimed at increasing funding for mental health services in Austin/Travis County ("Spending on mental illness sees a sudden boost," July 5, 2008):
"... Across Austin and in other parts of Texas, foundations and government organizations are giving more money to programs that help people with mental illnesses — an area that advocates say has long been underfunded in Texas.
The Travis County Healthcare District recently budgeted $3.2 million to pay for more in-patient care at local psychiatric hospitals, up from $1.9 million in 2007. St. David's Community Health Foundation last month awarded $2.3 million in grants to local nonprofit groups working on mental health issues, up from $1.3 million the year before.
In May, the Department of State Health Services handed out $25 million in new money to 17 local mental health centers, including more than $4.6 million for crisis care in Austin. The funding is part of $82 million the Legislature approved in 2007 to stem the tide of people with mental illness flooding emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals and jails.
That state-sanctioned financial support was widely seen as a victory in Texas, which is ranked 47th in the country for its per capita spending on people with mental illnesses. It's unclear whether the extra spending will continue, though.
'It's hard to tell whether or not it's a turning point, but a lot of eyes are on this,' said Mike Maples, director of mental health and substance abuse programs for the Department of State Health Services.
Mental health advocates have long tried to push psychiatric issues into the spotlight. Those efforts have received a boost from media coverage of mental health problems facing Iraq war veterans. State and national lawmakers are debating ways to improve mental health care for veterans. And this week, the U.S. House passed a bill requiring group health plans to provide the same level of coverage for mental illnesses that is given to other health problems.
On the state and local level, crisis appears to be a driving force in the new spending.
Last fall, in an effort to stay within its state-allocated budget, the Austin-Travis County Mental Health Mental Retardation Center cut the number of patients it sent to Austin State Hospital. At that time, the center usually housed 100 to 110 patients at the hospital at any given time. Since then, the number has fluctuated: at one point in January, 56 Travis County patients were in the state hospital; this week there were 75.
With private mental health hospitals often full and unable to fill the void, dozens of suicidal, manic or violent people — insured and uninsured — have been diverted to area emergency rooms, where they might wait hours or even days to be sent to a local psychiatric hospital.
Local hospitals have responded by devoting more resources on the crisis patients.
The Seton Family of Hospitals, for example, added 16 beds at Seton Shoal Creek psychiatric hospital. It also set aside six beds at the University Medical Center at Brackenridge emergency room for people with mental and physical health problems — a move that cost about $460,000 during the fiscal year that ended July 1. Seton also said it would double its $3 million a year psychiatric residency program, adding four more residents to the program.
'You can't deal with community health problems if you're not also taking care of mental health issues,' said Greg Hartman, senior vice president of University Medical Center at Brackenridge. 'There's too much of a connection.'
The hospital bed shortage also spurred officials with the Travis County Healthcare District to increase mental health funding.
'I think (the bed shortage) was the catalyst for saying to ourselves, We've got to do something,' said Patricia Young Brown, president of the healthcare district. 'There has to be a better way.'
The district increased its contribution to the local mental health effort by agreeing to finance inpatient care over the next year that could help 368 to 728 additional indigent patients, depending on their length of stay in the hospital. Officials said they plan to continue that level of financing indefinitely.
Although the St. David's foundation also provided funding for in-patient psychiatric beds, most of its recent grants support local nonprofits. Waterloo Counseling, for example, will receive $112,000 for mental health employees, including counselors. Any Baby Can was given $149,00 to provide in-home counseling to 85 additional clients each year.
'It was really clear there was a lot of need, a big gap in mental health services," he foundation's president Dick Moeller said. ...'"
Read the full article.
**
More information about the $25 million in grants awarded by the TX Department of State Health Services is available here.
Showing posts with label Austin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Austin. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
A Holistic Approach to Offenders with Mental Illness
Here's an op-ed from Judge Nancy Hohengarten that appeared in the Austin American-Statesman ("A way to ensure justice for all", February 5, 2008):
"Traditionally, family members of criminal defendants do not discuss cases with the prosecution, but when the defendant is mentally ill, family input is appropriate.
A family member who understands the nature of a defendant's mental illness, behavior and circumstances is a valuable resource to the criminal justice system. Protection of the community requires that the mentally ill receive treatment to prevent recidivism. A mentally ill defendant who does not receive appropriate treatment will often be re-arrested, thrown back in jail and yet another person will have been a victim. In the misdemeanor courts' mental health docket, Travis County Attorney David Escamilla allows his mental health prosecutor to listen to family members because it leads to better decision-making on criminal cases.
The role of a prosecutor, after all, is to seek justice. On a case-by-case basis, it means that the punishment should be appropriate for the offense and the offender. This, of course, requires the prosecutor to show leadership on community problems — like mentalillness — that can lead to crime.
My experience with family members trying to keep a loved one mentally healthy and out of jail is that they are exhausted, frustrated and heartbroken.
Their experience provides valuable guidance to criminal justice professionals so that the justice system appropriately addresses andmonitors mentally ill defendants.
One longtime Austin business owner whose son had damaged her property asked me to put her son on probation so that he could be ordered to take his medication. He did very well and was discharged early.
Another woman asked me to find treatment for her son because the stress was killing her. Unfortunately, her mentally ill son couldn't stop using cocaine while he waited the two months for residential treatment on probation. Now he's spending a month in jail because the wait for such treatment is shorter when you're locked up.
Family members aren't asking for leniency; rather, they want their loved ones mentally healthy so they won't break the law and end up in jail. Thus their interests coincide with the interests of criminal justice.
Prosecutors, judges and defense attorneys need to listen to these families. It is our responsibility to provide protection for thecommunity and fairness and justice for all."
Hohengarten presides over Travis County Court at Law 5. She is a member of the Mayor's Mental Health Task Force Monitoring Committeeand the Austin Travis County Mental Health Jail Diversion Committee.
Read the editorial online.
"Traditionally, family members of criminal defendants do not discuss cases with the prosecution, but when the defendant is mentally ill, family input is appropriate.
A family member who understands the nature of a defendant's mental illness, behavior and circumstances is a valuable resource to the criminal justice system. Protection of the community requires that the mentally ill receive treatment to prevent recidivism. A mentally ill defendant who does not receive appropriate treatment will often be re-arrested, thrown back in jail and yet another person will have been a victim. In the misdemeanor courts' mental health docket, Travis County Attorney David Escamilla allows his mental health prosecutor to listen to family members because it leads to better decision-making on criminal cases.
The role of a prosecutor, after all, is to seek justice. On a case-by-case basis, it means that the punishment should be appropriate for the offense and the offender. This, of course, requires the prosecutor to show leadership on community problems — like mentalillness — that can lead to crime.
My experience with family members trying to keep a loved one mentally healthy and out of jail is that they are exhausted, frustrated and heartbroken.
Their experience provides valuable guidance to criminal justice professionals so that the justice system appropriately addresses andmonitors mentally ill defendants.
One longtime Austin business owner whose son had damaged her property asked me to put her son on probation so that he could be ordered to take his medication. He did very well and was discharged early.
Another woman asked me to find treatment for her son because the stress was killing her. Unfortunately, her mentally ill son couldn't stop using cocaine while he waited the two months for residential treatment on probation. Now he's spending a month in jail because the wait for such treatment is shorter when you're locked up.
Family members aren't asking for leniency; rather, they want their loved ones mentally healthy so they won't break the law and end up in jail. Thus their interests coincide with the interests of criminal justice.
Prosecutors, judges and defense attorneys need to listen to these families. It is our responsibility to provide protection for thecommunity and fairness and justice for all."
Hohengarten presides over Travis County Court at Law 5. She is a member of the Mayor's Mental Health Task Force Monitoring Committeeand the Austin Travis County Mental Health Jail Diversion Committee.
Read the editorial online.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Caring for Mentally Ill in Jails, Emergency Rooms
The Austin-American Statesman (February 3, 2008) reports that since November, at least 125 depressed, suicidal, or violent people have been sent to emergency rooms in Austin, rather than the state hospital:
"Previously, most of those people would have gone to the state hospital, said Dr. Jim Van Norman, medical director for the Austin Travis County Mental Health Mental Retardation Center.
Now, some spend up to 14 days in emergency rooms waiting for a bed in a psychiatric facility. Others are treated and released from emergency rooms without any mental health care."
Late last year, for financial reasons, Austin mental health officials drastically cut the number of patients they send to the Austin State Hospital, a public facility for people with mental illness.
The Statesman chronicles the case of Daniel Whitehead, a man who has bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and who spent months in jail waiting to be sent to a psychiatric hospital. His case starkly illustrates the vicious cycle of incarceration and hospitalization in which many people with mental illness now find themselves:
"On Sept. 30, the 32-year-old Austin man — who said he was using crack, was not taking his psychiatric drugs and thought federal agents were out to get him — was arrested and jailed, accused of forging a $231 check at a sporting goods store to buy socks, sunglasses and a jacket.
He couldn't afford to pay the $10,000 bail, said Whitehead's wife, Lisa Valentine. And by the time Whitehead had a psychiatric evaluation a month later, his mental health had deteriorated so severely that he was unable to assist in his defense, said Amber Vazquez Bode, Whitehead's lawyer.
Whitehead was deemed incompetent to stand trial, and a judge ordered him sent to a psychiatric hospital. But because of a backlog of more than 40 inmates awaiting similar transfers, Whitehead spent more than three months in the Travis County Correctional Complex in Del Valle.
He is now at the Austin State Hospital."
Austin does not have a medical hospital with a psychiatric emergency room:
"Doctors, medical professionals and mental health advocates have had multiple meetings about the problem, but no solution has emerged. Some people want to see psychiatric hubs staffed with mental health professionals established in three local hospitals. Some want the state to give the MHMR center more psychiatrc beds. Others think a stand-alone emergency psychiatric hospital for the uninsured is the best solution.
For now, the MHMR center is applying for a $6 million state grant that would fund mobile mental health teams to work at several local emergency rooms. But whether the agency will get that money remains unclear."
Read the full article at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/03/0203mental.html
"Previously, most of those people would have gone to the state hospital, said Dr. Jim Van Norman, medical director for the Austin Travis County Mental Health Mental Retardation Center.
Now, some spend up to 14 days in emergency rooms waiting for a bed in a psychiatric facility. Others are treated and released from emergency rooms without any mental health care."
Late last year, for financial reasons, Austin mental health officials drastically cut the number of patients they send to the Austin State Hospital, a public facility for people with mental illness.
The Statesman chronicles the case of Daniel Whitehead, a man who has bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and who spent months in jail waiting to be sent to a psychiatric hospital. His case starkly illustrates the vicious cycle of incarceration and hospitalization in which many people with mental illness now find themselves:
"On Sept. 30, the 32-year-old Austin man — who said he was using crack, was not taking his psychiatric drugs and thought federal agents were out to get him — was arrested and jailed, accused of forging a $231 check at a sporting goods store to buy socks, sunglasses and a jacket.
He couldn't afford to pay the $10,000 bail, said Whitehead's wife, Lisa Valentine. And by the time Whitehead had a psychiatric evaluation a month later, his mental health had deteriorated so severely that he was unable to assist in his defense, said Amber Vazquez Bode, Whitehead's lawyer.
Whitehead was deemed incompetent to stand trial, and a judge ordered him sent to a psychiatric hospital. But because of a backlog of more than 40 inmates awaiting similar transfers, Whitehead spent more than three months in the Travis County Correctional Complex in Del Valle.
He is now at the Austin State Hospital."
Austin does not have a medical hospital with a psychiatric emergency room:
"Doctors, medical professionals and mental health advocates have had multiple meetings about the problem, but no solution has emerged. Some people want to see psychiatric hubs staffed with mental health professionals established in three local hospitals. Some want the state to give the MHMR center more psychiatrc beds. Others think a stand-alone emergency psychiatric hospital for the uninsured is the best solution.
For now, the MHMR center is applying for a $6 million state grant that would fund mobile mental health teams to work at several local emergency rooms. But whether the agency will get that money remains unclear."
Read the full article at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/02/03/0203mental.html
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Criminal Justice and Mental Illness in Travis County
KUT, the public radio station in Austin, recently aired a story about efforts to stem the criminalization of people with mental illness in Travis County. The bottom line? More money is needed for programs that provide treatment for those with mental illness and help keep them out of jail.
Listen to the story.
Listen to the story.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Austin Police Department Assist Those with Mental Illness
From the Austin American-Statesman, December 29, 2007:
Protecting and serving the mentally ill: Austin police crisis officers strain to fill gaps in mental health care in the face of budget cuts, growing caseload
By Joshunda Sanders
Willie, 71, was muttering to himself underneath a dying palm tree in his Clarksville front yard when Austin police officers Donnie Williamson and Kim Devitt showed up. He glanced at the familiar white car, then scurried into his house, screaming, "What'd I do now?"
Williamson approached Willie's door. "We're just here to check on you," he said calmly. "Go home now!" the older man yelled, slamming his door shut.
Like hundreds of other mentally ill people in Austin, Willie's not an immediate danger to anyone. (His last name has been withheld because he was not charged with any wrongdoing.) Still, he demands a lot of attention and resources, mainly those of the Austin Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team. Since 1998, police officers have visited him more than 20 times, trying to get him help or medication, to no avail. Williamson, a 21-year-veteran of the department who has been with the crisis team for five years, said, "You have to switch hats between police work and social work."
The team of six officers, created in 1999, follows up on attempted suicide calls, or visits people who either don't have or won't take medication. Patients with immediate needs are taken to psychiatric emergency services run by Austin Travis County Mental Health Mental Retardation Center. If officers take someone to be treated, they follow up with home visits and with center workers to make sure people are getting the help they need.
In the past, officers could take people like Willie to the state hospital. Now, they can only drop them at Brackenridge and Seton hospital emergency rooms. Willie is one of an estimated 900 people expected to need treatment in the next year who might not get it, according to the county. The Austin Travis County Mental Health Mental Retardation Center cut the number of Austin State Hospital beds available to mentally ill people in the city and county from 110 to about 63 this year because of inadequate state funding.
When Willie started tossing things around and screaming uncontrollably inside his house, Williamson said to Devitt, "We better go."
To no one in particular, he said, "I'd love to put him in the hospital to get him the medication he needs, but there's nothing illegal about being crazy in your own house."
Austin police officers work alongside nine Travis County sheriff's deputies on the Austin State Hospital campus.
About 200 officers on the force are trained to deal with the mentally ill as part of their normal duties, but the crisis team goes beyond that, said police Sgt. Michael Turner, who oversees the unit. Every year, Turner said, his unit faces caseload increases, possibly fueled by out-of-county clients. In 2006, officers wrote 5,685 reports; as of this November, the unit had 6,031 reports, about 20 per officer per week. "It's hard and can be frustrating work," Williamson said. "But I try to look at it as if this person was my kid — how would I want someone to deal with him?"
Devitt tried a similar approach with 51-year-old Marissa, communicating through a rickety apartment windowpane. The electricity had been shut off at her tiny downtown apartment, so when temperatures dropped, she had no heat. Her solution: burning charcoal in bowls inside her house.
"We don't want you burning this place up," Devitt warned. "You just call us if your lights go out again." Devitt and Williamson backed away from the apartment, cautiously eyeing the old wood before they got back into their police car and drove to their next visit.
joshundasanders@statesman.com;445-3630
MORE ON THIS STORY: On the beat with the Crisis Intervention Unit
Protecting and serving the mentally ill: Austin police crisis officers strain to fill gaps in mental health care in the face of budget cuts, growing caseload
By Joshunda Sanders
Willie, 71, was muttering to himself underneath a dying palm tree in his Clarksville front yard when Austin police officers Donnie Williamson and Kim Devitt showed up. He glanced at the familiar white car, then scurried into his house, screaming, "What'd I do now?"
Williamson approached Willie's door. "We're just here to check on you," he said calmly. "Go home now!" the older man yelled, slamming his door shut.
Like hundreds of other mentally ill people in Austin, Willie's not an immediate danger to anyone. (His last name has been withheld because he was not charged with any wrongdoing.) Still, he demands a lot of attention and resources, mainly those of the Austin Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team. Since 1998, police officers have visited him more than 20 times, trying to get him help or medication, to no avail. Williamson, a 21-year-veteran of the department who has been with the crisis team for five years, said, "You have to switch hats between police work and social work."
The team of six officers, created in 1999, follows up on attempted suicide calls, or visits people who either don't have or won't take medication. Patients with immediate needs are taken to psychiatric emergency services run by Austin Travis County Mental Health Mental Retardation Center. If officers take someone to be treated, they follow up with home visits and with center workers to make sure people are getting the help they need.
In the past, officers could take people like Willie to the state hospital. Now, they can only drop them at Brackenridge and Seton hospital emergency rooms. Willie is one of an estimated 900 people expected to need treatment in the next year who might not get it, according to the county. The Austin Travis County Mental Health Mental Retardation Center cut the number of Austin State Hospital beds available to mentally ill people in the city and county from 110 to about 63 this year because of inadequate state funding.
When Willie started tossing things around and screaming uncontrollably inside his house, Williamson said to Devitt, "We better go."
To no one in particular, he said, "I'd love to put him in the hospital to get him the medication he needs, but there's nothing illegal about being crazy in your own house."
Austin police officers work alongside nine Travis County sheriff's deputies on the Austin State Hospital campus.
About 200 officers on the force are trained to deal with the mentally ill as part of their normal duties, but the crisis team goes beyond that, said police Sgt. Michael Turner, who oversees the unit. Every year, Turner said, his unit faces caseload increases, possibly fueled by out-of-county clients. In 2006, officers wrote 5,685 reports; as of this November, the unit had 6,031 reports, about 20 per officer per week. "It's hard and can be frustrating work," Williamson said. "But I try to look at it as if this person was my kid — how would I want someone to deal with him?"
Devitt tried a similar approach with 51-year-old Marissa, communicating through a rickety apartment windowpane. The electricity had been shut off at her tiny downtown apartment, so when temperatures dropped, she had no heat. Her solution: burning charcoal in bowls inside her house.
"We don't want you burning this place up," Devitt warned. "You just call us if your lights go out again." Devitt and Williamson backed away from the apartment, cautiously eyeing the old wood before they got back into their police car and drove to their next visit.
joshundasanders@statesman.com;445-3630
MORE ON THIS STORY: On the beat with the Crisis Intervention Unit
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