My Pledge:

YOU are my special interest. I will be a catalyst for change, using all my experience and energy to
be an effective champion for our families, communities,
and people with disabilities.

•  

   

                  North Carolina’s mental health system needs good administrators, good policy analysts, and good practicioners.  It needs to refocus on helping the people it was designed to help.  While Secretary Benton has identified some of the problems and has offered some good solutions to the Legislature, he has missed some of the key reasons reform failed.  For this reason, I have developed a plan to address the problem, and I encourage all the gubernatorial candidates to consider this approach.  It has been vested with providers, consumers, and the academic community.  There are many stakeholders across NC who depend upon this system not only for their services but also for jobs.  A failing system will further impact the economy of this state and hurt people in need.

  Any additional system-wide changes should be delayed including consolidation of Local Managing Entities until the following basic requirements have been accomplished.

  1. Fixing our state’s mental health system requires leadership & unwavering commitment from the Governor.  This includes reaffirming the state’s responsibility for a systematic, consultative collaborative process with & between the Legislature, local programs, County Commissioners, and all stakeholders (families, consumers, providers).

   

  1. As a first priority, the Legislative Oversight Commission for MH/DD/SAS should require an independent, nonpartisan management review of the state Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services by a task force of individuals with appropriate expertise in appropriate staffing and management of similar governmental organizations.  Recommendations from this group should be used to identify and correct deficiencies within the Division including the development of Legislative proposals if necessary to address funding and staffing issues.    The Division of MH/DD/SAS must have the capabiity and capacity to lead and implement the reform effort.  This includes mental health program leaders, managers, and staff that are highly trained and experienced psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers as well as other analysts and managers.
  2. At the present time, NC does not have a Center where mental health system changes can be effectively evaluated for programatic and financial feasibility.  This expertise does exist in our area universities, and will require that the universities mobilize faculty to take on the set of urgent system problems that undermine effective care and treatment. I recommend acting immediately on a proposal to establish a nonpartisan mental health policy institute based at UNC-Chapel Hill in collaboration with Duke University to provide reliable information on these issues.1  

   

  Proceed with these Emergency Fixes Immediately:

  1. Re-establish a basic level of public sector crisis services at the local level to insure that people are kept safe.  This includes 24/7 crisis centers, mobile crisis teams, detox centers, case workers, and psychiatrists.
  2. Provide an adequate number of psychiatric beds in our local general hospitals for all psychiatric patients regardless of their insurance status.  Evaluate options such as 1)  requiring local hospitals to open psychiatric beds in order to receive Certificate of Need approval for other expansions and 2) raising the rates for inpatient psychiatric care. 
  3. re-evaluate the number of state hospital beds needed in the face of the failure of mental health reform and population growth including the long-term feasibility of closing Dorothea Dix Hospital.   Take steps quickly to ensure that we have adequate beds and properly trained staff for each of our state facilitie.

   

  Long Term:

  Make system-wide changes gradually with the benefit of careful evaluation and analysis by the university-based mental health policy center under the leadership of a properly staffed and funded Division of MH/DD/SAS