A Brief History of the Lack of Funding for Mental Health in NH
In the 15 years before the legislature was majority Democrats and since November 2010, major cuts were made to our mental health system. Currently NH is left with three group homes in the whole state (Concord, Manchester, and Nashua) that house a total of 30 residents, many of whom are former patients of the state mental hospital, NH Hospital (NHH) who are now elderly. For younger residents in need of services there is no capacity to serve them.
Under Republican leadership, the workshops and partial hospitalization programs closed as well. In addition, most of the psychiatric units in hospitals closed leaving us with only three (Portsmouth Pavilion, which went from three units to one, Elliot Hospital in Mancheste, and NHH).
Due to budget cutting, NHH closed the Philbrook Center which treated children and adolescents. It also had a unit to serve patients with brain injuries. Under the current house proposed budget another unit is slated to be closed. It is not uncommon for someone who is a danger to themselves or others to wait 3 or 4 days before they can be hospitalized. Then they are often only hospitalized an average of 4-5 days, often returning to the community still very ill.
Under the current proposed budget, 3 of the 10 mental health centers will close. Community Partners that services Strafford County may no longer exist impacting people throughtout the county. Under the house budget the mental health centers lose 42% of their funding. Meaning 3,500 children and 7,000 severely mentally ill will lose services and additional 3,000 people will not be non-eligible for counseling and other services. Community Partners will lose 4.2 million dollars in funding causing mass layoffs of staff and severe reductions to services for the people they serve and putting the agency at risk for lack of compliance with ADA standards if either the house or Governor's budget is passed. If a lawsuit is filed by the US Attorney regarding the lack of compliance with ADA, it will cost NH millions in legal fees and fines. A brief article about the state of NH's mental health system is below.
April 12 CONCORD, NH, Boston Globe. A new report from the federal government confirms what New Hampshire officials have acknowledged for years: The state's mental health system is broken, failing and in crisis. Read more here.
Under Republican leadership, the workshops and partial hospitalization programs closed as well. In addition, most of the psychiatric units in hospitals closed leaving us with only three (Portsmouth Pavilion, which went from three units to one, Elliot Hospital in Mancheste, and NHH).
Due to budget cutting, NHH closed the Philbrook Center which treated children and adolescents. It also had a unit to serve patients with brain injuries. Under the current house proposed budget another unit is slated to be closed. It is not uncommon for someone who is a danger to themselves or others to wait 3 or 4 days before they can be hospitalized. Then they are often only hospitalized an average of 4-5 days, often returning to the community still very ill.
Under the current proposed budget, 3 of the 10 mental health centers will close. Community Partners that services Strafford County may no longer exist impacting people throughtout the county. Under the house budget the mental health centers lose 42% of their funding. Meaning 3,500 children and 7,000 severely mentally ill will lose services and additional 3,000 people will not be non-eligible for counseling and other services. Community Partners will lose 4.2 million dollars in funding causing mass layoffs of staff and severe reductions to services for the people they serve and putting the agency at risk for lack of compliance with ADA standards if either the house or Governor's budget is passed. If a lawsuit is filed by the US Attorney regarding the lack of compliance with ADA, it will cost NH millions in legal fees and fines. A brief article about the state of NH's mental health system is below.
April 12 CONCORD, NH, Boston Globe. A new report from the federal government confirms what New Hampshire officials have acknowledged for years: The state's mental health system is broken, failing and in crisis. Read more here.
