Shameful

I had the good fortune of attending the United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association Advocacy ceremony in Washington, DC a few weeks back. The association uses this opportunity for members to visit legislators on key issues important to rehabilitation and recovery and also to honor national legislators who have contributed to the well-being of individuals in recovery. One of those individuals being honored that evening was Maryland's own Senator Ben Cardin.

Unfortunately, it was very embarrassing for me and should be embarrassing for all Marylanders. There were only four Marylanders at the ceremony. I was one of them and the CEO of USPRA was one of the others.

Shame on the Community Behavioral Health Association for their lack of attendance. This is just another example of how CBH has abandoned psychiatric rehabilitation in the State of Maryland and how impotent it is in advocacy for the practice and for people in recovery.

I did the best I could to congratulate Ben and try to be an ambassador for the state's psychiatric rehabilitation efforts but I was fuming.

Is crawling up the butt of the Mental Hygiene Administration and playing Neville Chamberlain when it comes to tough issues more important for CBH than honoring those who have championed our causes?

No wonder we have such a mediocre mental health system. We've seen the enemy and it is us.

I just returned from an open house for a new affordable housing initiative in Baltimore City which is a shining example of the possibilities for creating housing for people with psychiatric disabilities. No one from the Maryland Mental Hygiene Administration attended the event. Why?

Because the administration has failed to understand that affordable housing is an integral part of the recovery process for people with psychiatric disabilities in Maryland. Instead, they have extended a moratorium on the development of affordable housing by mental health providers that has been in effect since 2001.

Despite the best efforts of small housing development providers like the one I attended today, the effects of the moratorium have been ruinous. This is not to mention the advocacy efforts of the state's consumer "advocacy" organization, in the pocket of the Mental Hygiene Administration, who has advocated for the moratorium, yet benefitted from state funding to develop their own housing.

Although it cannot be scientifically connected, emergency room utilization by people with psychiatric disabilities has increased over the decade.

The prohibition, initially based on financial, potential liability, has come back to bite the entire system. The state is looking to cut $40 million dollars in Medicaid savings would do well to look at the major reason for repetitive emergency room visits- housing.

MD budget hearings

I testified at the Senate budget hearing for the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration today and the committee was sympathetic and attentive.

What was really interesting, though, were the folks waiting to testify on the Mental Hygiene Budget. You had the lapdog provider association that has, for years, been "Chamberlainesque" in their dealings with the Mental Hygiene Administration for years, failing to protest obvious state violations of the Supreme Court Olmstead Decision and On-Our-Own members, who have forgotten the face of their fathers, don't come close to representing the vast majority of people with psychiatric disabilities and actually advocate for violations of the Olmstead Decision, specifically the moratorium on the development of affordable housing for people with psychiatric disabilities. This, at the same time, as they reap state monies to develop housing themselves. Hypocrites and violators of civil rights at the same time.

Ultimately, though, the problem lies with a lack of vision and leadership at the state level -- state leaders who pat providers on the head for not making waves or filing legitimate civil rights law suits or lining the pockets of "consumer" leaders who pretend to have the best interest of the masses with severe mental illnesses in mind.

In the richest state in the Union can we afford to have these perennial games go on? I would hope not.

But my hope is lagging.

Housing Affordability

According to 2008 US Census data more than 40 million Americans spent 30% or more of their household income on housing costs, 600,000 more than in 2007. This is despite the fact that housing prices dropped by 20%.

Renters were hit hardest by the changing financial climate. The number of renters swelled by 900,000 in 2008 and supply struggled to meet demand. The market clearing price for rental property escalated.

Obviously, the poor and disabled are hurt worst during a period like this and more and more of the poor and disabled are getting pushed out of the housing market.

Despite that fact, the Maryland Mental Hygiene Administration is about to enter the ninth year of a freeze on the development of affordable housing for people with psychiatric disabilities in the state. It is true, a few million dollars was allocated this year to develop housing in Baltimore City but this is a drop in the bucket compared what is needed statewide.

In contrast, a model program in Florida, yes Florida, Boley Centers in Pinellas County has developed hundreds of new beds for people with psychiatric disabilities since the turn of the century and the state mental health authority in Tennessee, yes Tennessee, has developed thousands of beds in the same period.

Come on, Maryland, get your policy act together!