The Associated Press
NORMAN, Okla. — Sitting in a circle inside a dimly lit office, the clients at the Transition House are uneasy.
Participants in the nonprofit agency’s program that helps mentally ill Oklahomans transition from institutions to the community fear pending state budget cuts could leave them homeless, hospitalized or even dead.
As the state grapples with a projected $1.2 billion shortfall in its budget for the upcoming fiscal year, mental health experts worry that great strides made in recent years to improve treatment for mental illness in Oklahoma will be rolled back as policy makers are forced to ax some state programs.
“There’s a lot of people out here who need these services,” said Steve Boyer, 53, who completed the program after years of depression and alcohol abuse and, ultimately, a suicide attempt. “If I hadn’t had these services, I probably wouldn’t be here. I’d probably be dead.”
Some of the clients worry about obtaining medications that can cost several hundred dollars each month. For others, there’s the fear of being unable to find housing or transportation to and from doctor appointments or the grocery store.
Oklahoma isn’t alone. With nearly every state suffering budget shortfalls, mental health programs are hurting across the nation, said Mike Fitzpatrick, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
“What you’re seeing is a gradual weakening of the mental health system — fewer case workers, cutbacks in patient beds, longer waiting lines,” Fitzpatrick said. “In Oklahoma, we’re concerned they’re going to be thrown back significantly because of challenges with their budget.”
The Norman Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center, where Boyer first received inpatient treatment, already has been shuttered as the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services addressed a 7.2 percent cut in its 2009-10 budget.
The agency’s state budget, already cut about $10 million to start the fiscal year, has been slashed by another $15 million so far this year as state revenues plummeted amid a sluggish economy and low energy prices.
More than 100 adult substance abuse treatment beds already have been lost, along with transitional housing, children’s mental health beds and the jobs of about 100 employees, said Commissioner Terri White, who heads the agency.
“What’s so frustrating about that is these are people who are asking for help, and while they’re waiting for services, it may cost them their children, their homes, their jobs, and even their life,” White said. “These are horrible choices we’re having to make. Every decision we make is a loss of services to someone.”
And things could get worse before they get better. Without any new sources of revenue, the state is looking at additional agency budget cuts next year in the neighborhood of 10 percent to 12 percent.
Both Gov. Brad Henry and House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa, have said mental health funding is a priority area, along with general health care, public safety and education.
“We have to remember that we’re not just dealing with numbers on a spreadsheet. Every increment of cuts has an impact on the lives and livelihoods of real people. And we have to keep those real people in mind when we’re discussing those cuts,” Henry said.
A national study conducted by NAMI shows Oklahoma ranked 44th among the 50 states in the percentage of its total state budget spent on mental health care — about 1.1 percent — in 2006, the most recent year for which data was available.
Over the next three years, Oklahoma increased the amount it spends on mental health care — and NAMI has noted the improvement — but funding has since dwindled with deep cuts to programs and services across the agency.
“You’re beginning to see that progress really eroded, and there’s no real light at the end of the tunnel,” Fitzpatrick said.
At Transition House in Norman, where Boyer volunteers to help other patients, local United Way funding was cut before the state imposed its cuts. Director Bonnie Dunn worries that more prospective clients will be turned away and end up in jails, prisons or hospitals.
“Untreated, folks with mental health and substance abuse issues cost communities in terms of crime rates, incarceration, medical costs,” she said. “Without support, these folks don’t just disappear.”
