U.S. Sen Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) has called again for new mental health legislation after a woman was shot to death Thursday outside the U.S. Capitol.
It is being reported that the woman had been suffering from postpartum depression and was under the delusion the president was communicating with her.
It has been said that, “You can curse the darkness, or light a candle.”
For the 30-plus years I have known Stabenow, she has been all about the business of lighting candles. Stabenow has been working tirelessly to help address the mental health portion of this and other human tragedies.
This is not new territory for Stabenow — she has been a champion for quality mental health care throughout her political career, serving first as a county commissioner, then a state representative, state senator, member of Congress and now as a United States senator.
Her normal modus operandi is to not simply hole up in some stuffy Capitol hearing room. Instead, she makes it a point to move across Michigan on a listen-and-learn tour. She meets with consumers of mental health services, their families and local mental health care providers to discuss the legislation she’s sponsoring to widen mental health service coverage under Medicaid.
Her legislation — the “Excellence in Mental Health Act” — would allow community mental health centers to bill Medicaid for mental health treatments much like physical health services. The ability to pay for mental health services is often a major stumbling block to obtain services for those in need. Access to Medicaid funding would allow local community mental health agencies to provide more services. The bill was introduced earlier this year with support from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
Speaking at the Community Mental Health Authority of Clinton, Eaton and Ingham counties on part of her listen-and-learn tour, Stabenow said “We need to have mental health services receiving the same access to funding as physical health services.”
How right you are senator!
Currently under the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies can be billed for mental health services. However, community mental health offices cannot get fully reimbursed by Medicaid for all services.
There is still a stigma attached to seeking treatment for mental illness.
The National Institute of Mental Health describes “depressive illness” as a “disorder of the brain” — not a personal weakness. A recently released study referred to as, “The Oregon Study” (http://m.nber.org//oregon/index.html) concludes that access to Medicaid reduces the incidence of depression by a substantial 30 percentage points.
We need to break down the stigma of seeking treatment for mental disorders, get people the treatment they need and support them in their road to recovery.
Mental health professionals call for change
Robert Sheehan, executive director of the Clinton, Eaton and Ingham County Mental Health Authority, said Stabenow’s legislation — if passed — would immediately improve mental health services in our state.
“The Excellence in Mental Health Act would greatly increase access to mental health and addictions services creating a pathway for community mental health and addictions organizations to become Federally Qualified Community Behavioral Health Centers,” Sheehan said.
Such a designation would ensure high levels of access to care, greater coordination with primary care providers and provide a more stable, fiscal foundation for the nation’s community mental health system.
“This Act,” Sheehan said, “will move this state’s CMH system — already one of the best in the nation — toward the nationally recognized ‘triple aim’ of health care quality, outcomes, and cost control.”
Stabenow understands that there is often a connection between neglected, untreated mental health problems and an increase in gun violence in America.
Mark Creekmore, president of the National Alliance for Mental Illness in Washtenaw County and board member of NAMI Michigan, said the need for passage of this act is great.
“Most certainly we can do much better than we have historically done to meet the needs of those individuals with serious mental illness; mental health services for most people are too little, too late and inconsistent,” Creekmore said.
Vicki Bucciere, a clinical social worker at Henry Ford Health System with more than 25 years of experience in inpatient and outpatient mental health and crisis intervention, has witnessed the triumph of persons with serious mental illness receiving the treatment needed and then living productive lives. She has also witnessed the agony of those unable to access care and the devastation it brings to both them and their family.
“Access to affordable, appropriate mental health services can literally be a matter of life and death,” said Bucciere.
Jeff Patton, executive director of the Kalamazoo Mental Health Authority, said the “time has arrived for both the state and national governments to provide the resources necessary to appropriately care for persons with serious mental illness in their communities across America.”
Closer to home
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed executive orders directing Lt. Gov. Brian Calley to review the state’s mental health system.
The Lt. Governor has been reaching out to family members of those with serious mental illness, and the professionals seeking ways that we can strengthen preventative services while providing appropriate treatment to those in need.
At a recent Lansing stop, Stabenow talked about mental health parity: Treating mental health the same as physical health. As a professionally-trained social worker, Stabenow understands mental health issues exceptionally well.
“We focus on physical health, we target the heart, the kidneys and diabetes and all kinds of disease, but when it affects a disease in the brain, there’s a lot of stigma attached to it and we don’t have the same types of services available,” she said.
Common sense and the obvious mental health issues surrounding recent mass murder suspects serve only to underscore the importance of what Stabenow is attempting to accomplish.
George Gaines, president of the Detroit-Wayne County Mental Health Agency Board of Directors, contends that the time is right for change.
“I have been involved in the delivery of community mental health service for over 30 years and I have never seen this level of commitment to meet the challenge of preventing and treating serious mental illness as I have today,” he said. “For persons with serious mental health needs, their families and all that love them, the time has arrived to get this right.”
Mike Vizena, the executive director of Michigan Association of Community Mental Health Boards, praised Stabenow for her lifetime efforts in helping people in need of mental health services.
“It would be fantastic if by this ‘May is Mental Health Month’ we could celebrate the passing of a mental health parity law at the state level, and Sen. Stabenow’s Excellence in Mental Health Act at the Federal level,” Vizena said.
Clearly, these accomplishments would be worthy of celebration.
A mind — and human potential — are terrible things to waste. We need Congress to pass, and the president must sign, the Excellence in Mental Health act now.
It is being reported that the woman had been suffering from postpartum depression and was under the delusion the president was communicating with her.
It has been said that, “You can curse the darkness, or light a candle.”
For the 30-plus years I have known Stabenow, she has been all about the business of lighting candles. Stabenow has been working tirelessly to help address the mental health portion of this and other human tragedies.
This is not new territory for Stabenow — she has been a champion for quality mental health care throughout her political career, serving first as a county commissioner, then a state representative, state senator, member of Congress and now as a United States senator.
Her normal modus operandi is to not simply hole up in some stuffy Capitol hearing room. Instead, she makes it a point to move across Michigan on a listen-and-learn tour. She meets with consumers of mental health services, their families and local mental health care providers to discuss the legislation she’s sponsoring to widen mental health service coverage under Medicaid.
Her legislation — the “Excellence in Mental Health Act” — would allow community mental health centers to bill Medicaid for mental health treatments much like physical health services. The ability to pay for mental health services is often a major stumbling block to obtain services for those in need. Access to Medicaid funding would allow local community mental health agencies to provide more services. The bill was introduced earlier this year with support from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
Speaking at the Community Mental Health Authority of Clinton, Eaton and Ingham counties on part of her listen-and-learn tour, Stabenow said “We need to have mental health services receiving the same access to funding as physical health services.”
How right you are senator!
Currently under the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies can be billed for mental health services. However, community mental health offices cannot get fully reimbursed by Medicaid for all services.
There is still a stigma attached to seeking treatment for mental illness.
The National Institute of Mental Health describes “depressive illness” as a “disorder of the brain” — not a personal weakness. A recently released study referred to as, “The Oregon Study” (http://m.nber.org//oregon/index.html) concludes that access to Medicaid reduces the incidence of depression by a substantial 30 percentage points.
We need to break down the stigma of seeking treatment for mental disorders, get people the treatment they need and support them in their road to recovery.
Mental health professionals call for change
Robert Sheehan, executive director of the Clinton, Eaton and Ingham County Mental Health Authority, said Stabenow’s legislation — if passed — would immediately improve mental health services in our state.
“The Excellence in Mental Health Act would greatly increase access to mental health and addictions services creating a pathway for community mental health and addictions organizations to become Federally Qualified Community Behavioral Health Centers,” Sheehan said.
Such a designation would ensure high levels of access to care, greater coordination with primary care providers and provide a more stable, fiscal foundation for the nation’s community mental health system.
“This Act,” Sheehan said, “will move this state’s CMH system — already one of the best in the nation — toward the nationally recognized ‘triple aim’ of health care quality, outcomes, and cost control.”
Stabenow understands that there is often a connection between neglected, untreated mental health problems and an increase in gun violence in America.
Mark Creekmore, president of the National Alliance for Mental Illness in Washtenaw County and board member of NAMI Michigan, said the need for passage of this act is great.
“Most certainly we can do much better than we have historically done to meet the needs of those individuals with serious mental illness; mental health services for most people are too little, too late and inconsistent,” Creekmore said.
Vicki Bucciere, a clinical social worker at Henry Ford Health System with more than 25 years of experience in inpatient and outpatient mental health and crisis intervention, has witnessed the triumph of persons with serious mental illness receiving the treatment needed and then living productive lives. She has also witnessed the agony of those unable to access care and the devastation it brings to both them and their family.
“Access to affordable, appropriate mental health services can literally be a matter of life and death,” said Bucciere.
Jeff Patton, executive director of the Kalamazoo Mental Health Authority, said the “time has arrived for both the state and national governments to provide the resources necessary to appropriately care for persons with serious mental illness in their communities across America.”
Closer to home
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed executive orders directing Lt. Gov. Brian Calley to review the state’s mental health system.
The Lt. Governor has been reaching out to family members of those with serious mental illness, and the professionals seeking ways that we can strengthen preventative services while providing appropriate treatment to those in need.
At a recent Lansing stop, Stabenow talked about mental health parity: Treating mental health the same as physical health. As a professionally-trained social worker, Stabenow understands mental health issues exceptionally well.
“We focus on physical health, we target the heart, the kidneys and diabetes and all kinds of disease, but when it affects a disease in the brain, there’s a lot of stigma attached to it and we don’t have the same types of services available,” she said.
Common sense and the obvious mental health issues surrounding recent mass murder suspects serve only to underscore the importance of what Stabenow is attempting to accomplish.
George Gaines, president of the Detroit-Wayne County Mental Health Agency Board of Directors, contends that the time is right for change.
“I have been involved in the delivery of community mental health service for over 30 years and I have never seen this level of commitment to meet the challenge of preventing and treating serious mental illness as I have today,” he said. “For persons with serious mental health needs, their families and all that love them, the time has arrived to get this right.”
Mike Vizena, the executive director of Michigan Association of Community Mental Health Boards, praised Stabenow for her lifetime efforts in helping people in need of mental health services.
“It would be fantastic if by this ‘May is Mental Health Month’ we could celebrate the passing of a mental health parity law at the state level, and Sen. Stabenow’s Excellence in Mental Health Act at the Federal level,” Vizena said.
Clearly, these accomplishments would be worthy of celebration.
A mind — and human potential — are terrible things to waste. We need Congress to pass, and the president must sign, the Excellence in Mental Health act now.
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