Gov. Patrick's Budget Cuts Strike Almost $4m from Mental Health Services

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

Cross-posting for relevance.

BOSTON - November 19, 2008 - In the recent budget cuts laid out by Governor Deval Patrick, almost four million dollars are coming from programs for people with chronic mental illness.

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The people affected by these particular budget cuts suffer from severe and persistent mental illness: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, deep depression. Among them, and among the people who help them, there is disbelief that programs that seem to work so well are being eliminated. What is being cut are those programs that help people with severe and persistent mental illness rejoin the world and stay in it: support groups and job training.

The piece goes on to describe the fears health care workers and patients have about an increase in hospitalization and patients winding up on the street as a direct result of these cuts.

http://www.wbur.org/news/2008/81457_20081119.asp