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Mental health subcommittee hopes to take a bite out of widespread systemic problems

News & Advance - 1/9/2017

The work of the joint subcommittee studying mental health reform is years away from completion, but this session of the General Assembly includes proposals that were born out of the group's heaviest lifting yet.

"I've been reassured almost at every turn by other people in the General Assembly - on and off the subcommittee - about the importance of this issue," said Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, who is heading up the Joint Subcommittee Studying Mental Health Services in the Commonwealth in the 21st Century. "I feel very positive in that we brought attention to this issue and we've not let it be cast asunder by other priorities."

Deeds acknowledges the challenges some of the subcommittee's most ambitious proposals face because of a budget shortfall, but he's confident because the group's work held the attention of top budget leaders in the past several months.

Sen. Emmett W. Hanger Jr., R-Augusta, is a member of Deeds' subcommittee and also co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee. Del. S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, attended some of Deeds' meetings as an observer and in December spoke in favor of extending the life of the committee by a couple years.

"I've had some very productive conversations" with Jones, Deeds said. "I feel good about where we are."

Deeds has been at the forefront of the push for mental health reform since 2013 when his son, Gus Deeds, was turned away from a Community Services Board because a clinician could not find an emergency psychiatric bed for him.

The next day, Gus Deeds attacked his father with a knife and then shot and killed himself.

Deeds' subcommittee plans to put forward legislation that shores up the system of Community Services Boards, which are on the front lines of providing services for people in mental health crises.

The subcommittee plans to propose requiring same-day access to clinicians at all 40 of the state's Community Services Boards. Only a handful offer same-day access currently.

The plan also lays out services the Community Services Boards will have to provide within the next five to six years.

Deeds said all the proposals are important, but creating a standard slate of services across all Community Services Boards stands out to him as essential.

"We have to be realistic that the goals we set are long-term goals," Deeds said. "We didn't get in this mess overnight, and we're not going to fix it overnight."

The committee also proposes:

asking for $10 million in funding for permanent supportive housing for people who frequently wind up in state mental hospitals and jails;increasing the use of tele-mental health services, which would boost access to specialists, especially in rural areas;moving away from using law enforcement as the primary method of transporting mental health patients to hospitals and clinics; andincreasing accountability at local and regional jails and create a standard screening process for mental illness among inmates.

Jamcyheal Mitchell, a mentally ill man who died in 2015 after being arrested for allegedly stealing $5 in snacks from a convenience store, has been the source of a groundswell of support for mental health reform in Virginia this year.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe's proposed budget overlaps in many ways with the work of Deeds' subcommittee, but it includes other measures, too.

For example, it includes $2.5 million in planning funds to provide community services to people at state mental hospitals who are clinically ready for discharge but who have nowhere else to go.

McAuliffe's proposed budget also includes $4.2 million to hire an independent contractor to study and design the state's community mental health services system and assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services' structure.

At least two speakers at a public hearing about the proposed budget said that Deeds' subcommittee already is studying the design of the state's community mental health services. They suggested the money could be better spent in other areas, such as permanent supportive housing for Virginians with mental illness.

An additional $1.8 million in McAuliffe's budget would pay for new staffing at various state hospitals.

Among other bills that have been submitted relating to mental health, one would require the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services file reports within 15 days of critical incidents or deaths that happen at facilities operated or licensed by the department.

Currently, reports are only required for incidents at facilities that are operated by DBHDS.

Mental health advocates will be keeping a close eye on the General Assembly and working with lawmakers to push reforms.

Mira Signer, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Virginia, said her organization plans to push for a bill that would allow officers to drop off people who appear to be suffering from mental illness at crisis or stabilization centers. Now, they are typically arrested and taken to local jails, which often are not set up to treat mental illness.

Bruce Cruser, executive director of Mental Health America of Virginia, said he was pleased with McAuliffe's budget proposals and supports the work that's resulted from Deeds' subcommittee.

"I'm really hopeful that the crises we've had the past couple of years may result in something good coming out of it, and that would be some really significant improvements and funding for community mental health," Cruser said. "I just hope it won't be a wasted opportunity because these opportunities don't come around too often."