Caught In A Bleak Cycle

KC Mental Health Programs Seek Ways To Overcome State Budget Cuts

By Kate Lee, Contributing Writer

Finding help for those who suffer from serious mental illnesses has never been easy. For many, treatment through a community or state facility is their only hope. However, state-provided mental health services are dwindling from a lack of money.

Recently, both Kansas and Missouri have had serious financial problems which resulted in funding reductions for mental health departments. In Missouri, the General Assembly made significant cuts to Medicaid spending, in addition to limiting mental health care spending.

How does this affect patients for whom private care isn’t an option? In many cases, the situation has gone from bad to worse and a system already on the edge is now in full-on crisis. In the Kansas City metro area, there are programs and individuals working to find a way to help.

As superintendent of Corrections for the Municipal Correctional Institution (MCI) for Kansas City, MO, Nancy Leazer sees the effects of mental illness and the lack of treatment options in an up-close and personal way. Each day, she and her staff are responsible for up to 200 inmates at the city’s jail.

Her title doesn’t reflect it, but she knows she’s running not just a city jail, but a mental health facility. Her “patients” are jailed on charges related to drugs, theft, driving with a suspended license, and other offenses. Most aren’t first-time offenders — the cycle usually began for them when they were young.

“Many didn’t grow up in homes with much structure, or have been homeless for years,” Leazer says. “Many of the women have been sexually abused for years. Many men and women have been physically abused. They all started drinking or abusing drugs at an early age. They haven’t had steady jobs; they don’t have educations.”

Many inmates need significant mental health care. In a 2006 study, 50-60 percent reported hearing voices. Thirty-eight percent reported symptoms of mental illness combined with addiction. If they received the care they need, along with job training, Leazer believes the number of repeat offenders would decrease significantly.

In line with that philosophy, Connections to Success, a program housed at MCI’s facility, provides training and professional development activities for inmates. Graduates are paired with mentors at area businesses for post-release follow-up, including employment opportunities.

Another organization, Missouri Partners in Crisis, co-chaired by Leazer, is a statewide coalition of groups interested in mental health issues that promotes access to services, treatment and support. One of the group’s goals is statewide implementation of Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) for law enforcement officers and mental health courts. CIT already exists in Kansas City and Jackson County.

CIT are bright spots, says Cindi Keele, executive director, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI. Kansas City, MO, police officers have been trained to deal with mentally ill people who have broken the law. Instead of taking them to jail, they take them to treatment facilities to await processing. Additionally, Jackson County has a Mental Health Court that only hears cases with mentally ill defendants in an effort to get them into treatment as opposed to jail if appropriate.

Kansas City will soon have an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team. This team of psy chiatrists, nurses, case managers, drug- and alcohol-treatment specialists and others will help 70 to 100 people who consistently cycle through mental health systems. The ACT team will help people cope with their illness, stay out of hospitals and break the cycles that see them in the criminal justice system on a regular basis.

But there is more to be done. Guyla Stidmon, executive director, NAMI of Greater Kansas City, says she’s encouraged by Missouri’s Department of Mental Health leadership.

“There’s been a huge improvement in the conversation,” she says. “That we’re being listened to is a plus.”

Individuals can also do their part, she says. “Make yourself knowledgeable (about the issue),” she says. “If you are afraid to talk to your legislator, then talk about it in church, in your civic groups, to your next door neighbor. And if you’re not afraid, talk to your legislator. Volunteer for a program.”

Leazer says the important thing is to realize that the mentally ill can learn, they can cope with their disease, and they don’t have to fall into the cycle or remain there.

“If we could get really serious about it, we could get the mentally ill (out of the cycle),” she says.

Her vision for the Kansas City area includes caring individuals, trained professionals, and a compassionate justice system to truly rehabilitate those offenders whose behavior can be improved with adequate mental health treatment.

###