Mental Health Woes

As a former mental health worker in San Diego, I am deeply disturbed to hear of the proposed cuts in our county Mental Health Services. These drastic cuts will leave some of the treatment agencies in our communities decimated and crippled; some staffs and programs cut by over 60%, causing hundreds of people in various areas to go entirely without services. For those who will maintain their services, they will probably find them limited at best.

I guess the cuts proposed by the Board of Supervisors of San Diego County should not surprise me. But, in my naivete, I continue to hope that my chosen community will place a high value on the education of its children, the care of its elderly and the treatment of its ill. But sadly, we apparently do not.

It’s not too late to let your supervisor know how you feel about the shortsightedness of our leaders’ actions. These cuts will not only deny services to people in extreme need, increasing the suffering of the individual and their family, but will add weight to our overworked police, overcrowded jails and emergency rooms. It will force some people who could be treated in our community clinics to seek treatment in costly hospitalizations. And for the people who can’t afford that . . . ?

As you read this, you may be saying to yourself, “I won’t ever need any of these ‘mental health’ services.” Well, may you be the lucky ones. The lucky ones who never have a grandparent who becomes isolated, paranoid and stops caring for themselves and you can’t get through. The one who loses his job and becomes homeless. Or the one who becomes despondent over your house burning down, or an unexpected divorce, or the sudden death of a child. Perhaps you will never have a brother or sister who is experiencing a schizophrenic break, or a parent who loses their spouse and is now wanting to die.

It’s true, you may be one of the blessed. (Or you may be independently wealthy, ‘cause health insurance won’t cut it.)

But if you’re not, you may find one day when you look in the ole phone book for county Mental Health Services, that there’s no longer a listing.

KATHRYN FORD

Vista