Stephen Kaplan

* Re “Behavioral Health Director Put on Leave,” Feb. 4.

Stephen Kaplan, the director of behavioral health for Ventura County, is one of the finest mental health professionals and administrators I have known in my 25 years in the field. To see him made a scapegoat by Supervisor Frank Schillo and Pierre Durand is heartbreaking.

Other mental health staff feel the same but cannot speak out because they fear the same thing might happen to them.

There are two or more sides to this issue and the public, through the press, is only getting one. The same applies to Supervisor Susan Lacey, always an advocate for the best possible treatment for the mentally ill. The merger was an honest attempt to provide better treatment for those with major mental illness and / or chemical dependency.

What is called for now is an outside review of what has occurred, not involving anyone whose territory or fiefdom is threatened, to determine how best to serve our people’s needs in a cost-effective and of course legal way. Put politics and personal power aside and one will find the most effective plan. Chances are, such a review would reinstate Mr. Kaplan, and perhaps others would be left out. During the tenure of Mr. Kaplan and Randy Feltman, the Ventura County Mental Health Department was a model of efficiency and comprehensive treatment. To destroy this tradition and lose the expertise Stephen Kaplan can offer would be a crime.

BETSY BACHMAN

Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Ventura