Ohio's Community Mental Health System at a Crossroads

According to the Cleveland based Center for Community Solutions, a think tank dedicated to providing strategic leadership in the areas of health, social, and economic conditions, Ohio's mental health system is collapsing due to a lack of investment over many years. This lack of investment is leading to high costs in other systems and poor health outcomes.



Funding Cuts Cost More

According to Susan Ackerman, Fellow, Public Policy and Advocacy at the Center, Ohio's community mental health system is on the brink of failure and collapse. A combination of factors over time has led to this situation. But, among these factors, the lack of funding is the most damaging. Failure to meet the needs of people with mental illness in a community setting has resulted in increased hospitalizations, nursing home placements, and incarceration. Not only are these alternatives inappropriate - and in many cases inhumane - but they are significantly more expensive.


Though Ohio faces a crushing state revenue shortfall, more spending is needed now to stabilize the communty mental health system. This would not only improve the care of individuals with mental illness but would be prudent fiscal policy as it would stave off the need for future spending in other systems that are ill-equipped to provide long-term treatment and stabilization for people with mental illness.

ADAMHS Boards Worked!

The funding structure that initially created Ohio's Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Services Boards was initially very effective at deinstitutionalizastion, reducing the number of state hospitals from 17 to 7 representing better care in community settings and massive institutional cost savings. However, now that those savings have been realized it is important that funding levels be tied to cost drivers in the community mental health system - caseload, price, and service utilization.

Have we returned to the 1840's?

Around the country, care for people with severe mental illness is reverting to something that resembles the system that existed when Dorothea Dix began her raids on jails and almshouses in the 1840's. Ohio has the chance to reverse it current course, by leveraging the changes that resutl from federal health reform and actively design a system that will improve the health of our citizens. Nowhere else is it more important to seize this opportunity right now than in the behavioral health system.

Mike Schoenhofer

Behavioral Health Care IS Health Care

There is an increasing need for community based alcohol, drug addiction, and mental health services. Unfortunately, this increasing need had been met with decreasing financial support from the state. We hope it is the result of lack of understanding on the part of lawmakers that behavioral health care is a vital part of an individual's overall health.

Perhaps there is a confusion that mental illness or addiction are really just people "acting badly or misbehaving" rather than truly understanding that these are diseases of the brain, biologically based, and just as lethal as any other untreated illness like cancer or heart diesase.

In the previous state budget, the Governor explained that "health care was held harmless from budget cuts," when in fact behavioral healthcare locally was cut by $1.7 million. Perhaps the Governor didn't understand that mental illness and addiction are killers too.

Perhaps there is a greater tolerance at the Governor's Mansion and in the State House that persons with brain disorders can find treatment in jails, nursing homes, and emergency rooms? That sounds like prejudice to me.

Please stand with us in helping our lawmakers understand the critical need for mental health and substance abuse services in our local communities.

Behavioral Health Care is Health Care.

Mike Schoenhofer

Girls More Vulnerable to Substance Abuse?

Parents of teenage girls may be surprised to learn that their daughters may be more vulnerable to developing alcohol and drug problems than their male counterparts according to a survey by the Partnership for a Drug Free America. They are more susceptible to substance abuse because they are more likely to use alcohol and drugs to self-medicate.

Specifically, teen girls more than boys perceived the potential benefits of using drugs and alcohol.

The fact that girls, more than teenage boys think that drugs can help them deal with their problems was revealed in an analysis of the 2009 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study.

Girls More Likely to Turn to Drugs

Some of the findings of the study about teen girls included:

• 68% of girls said "using drugs helps kids deal with problems a home"


• 53% said drugs helped teens forget their problems"


• 59% of teen girls reported using alcohol


• Past year use of marijuana increased 29% from 2008 to 2009

Boys Drug Use Increasing

The report also foudn some disturbing trends among teenage boys:

• The percentage of boys who said "drugs help you relax socially" grew from 45% in 2008 to 52% in 2009


• 34% of boys said "parties are more fun with drugs"


• Use of marijuana increased among boys 15% between 2008 and 2009

Parents should pay close attention to their daughters' moods and mental health neds while addressing their worries and stresses. If parents suspect their teens are experimenting with drugs, they should take immediate action.

If you are concerned about your son or daughter using alcohol or drugs please call either the HopeLine 1 -800-567-4673 or Family Resource Centers 419-222-1168

Mike Schoenhofer

Addiction is a Disease of the Brain

A few times a week someone calls and asks for help because of an addiction they are struggling to overcome or an addiciton of a loved one. Addiction is a complex brain disease. It is a chronic disease characterized b y craving, seeking, and use that can persist even in the face of extremely negative consequences. Accohol and other drug seeking behavior may become compulsive, in large part, as a result of the effects of prolonged use on brain function and on behavior.

Addiction is considered a brain disease because alcohol and other drugs change the brain - they change its structure and how it works. These brain changes canbe long lasting, and can lead to harmful behaviors seen in people who abuse alcohol and other drugs.

According to Dr. Daniel Amen, alcohol and other drugs have a significant and seriously debilitating impact on the brain. In brain image scans the brain of an addict looks like it is full of holes.







Why does this matter?

1. Unintentional drug poisioning is the leading cause of injury death in Ohio, surpassing motor vehicle crashes and suicides for the first time on record.

2. The death rate in Ohio due to unintentional drug posionings increased 350% from 327 in 1999 to 1,472 in 2008.

Now more than ever we need strong community based alcohol and drug treatment and prevention programs that are designed to keep kids from getting started on drugs and to get people into recovery who have developed an addiction.

Funding cuts to behavioral health services for some is a death sentence and for others means a lifetime of suffering and imprisonment.

Addiction is a treatable disease. Success rates for addiction treatment exceed success rates for other chronic illnesses - approximately 70% of men and women who complete treatment and attend self help groups like AA, NA, or Celebrate Recovery are likely to remain abstinent from alcohol or other drugs.

Please join with us in advocating for treatment and prevention programming. Our families and loved ones need our help!

Mike Schoenhofer