Whenever the topic of mental health or mental illness is in the news, it is seldom a good thing. The mass killings at a Florida high school by a sick and troubled youth wrought moments of national grief over yet another preventable tragedy. If only 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz had received the counseling and support he needed, 17 students and teachers might still be alive today.
But there’s more news right now about mental illness and lack of preventative services that comes much closer to home here in Sonoma County, as much as we continue to grieve for the Florida victims and their community.
Sonoma County is facing a mental health challenge of great magnitude and of a very different nature. We are just beginning to face the stress, fears, uncertainty and depression now clouding the emotions, well-being and physical future of thousands of displaced wildfire victims.
Like the loss of more than 5,000 homes which made a previous affordable housing crisis even worse, our county’s mental health services were already underfunded. Before the wildfires, Sonoma County had a severe lack of clinical mental health programs and beds.
For several years, the safety net of drug and alcohol rehab programs has been tattered. Teen counseling and other mental health preventative programs have had to survive through continuous unpredictable budget cycles and downward spiraling support.
Now comes news that the county government’s Behavioral Health division is facing a $21 million shortfall that could eliminate or curtail up to 40 percent of its services and the immediate loss of 38 caregivers.
Just when we know thousands of our friends, neighbors and family members will be in need of grief and crisis counseling, we are forced with a decision about major mental health program cuts.
How crazy does this sound to you?
Ironically, the destruction of taxable properties by the wildfires and the disruption to our economy is a big factor in almost all local governments’ budget emergencies. Prior to the fires, state and federal funds for mental health programs already were being threatened.
More than just government services could be impacted here. The county funnels $93 million in state, federal and local tax funds to dozens of community and nonprofit organizations. These partners provide grief intervention, wellness programs, substance abuse counseling, jail diversion programs and temporary housing.
Facing the aftermath of our historic fires, would we ever consider cutting 40 percent of our fire and emergency services? What kind of public outcry would there be over a suggestion that four of every 10 classrooms in the county must be closed due to budgetary reasons? Instead of mental health, what if the question was about eliminating $21 million in emergency room, ambulance or hospital services?
What’s your definition of insanity?
Where there is a shortage of mental health services, there is an increase in all kinds of other social costs. These include drug abuse, homelessness, an opioid epidemic, more suicides and more domestic violence cases. Add on top of all these the unknown and unpredictable wave of displaced, hurting, angry and disabled wild fire victims.
We applaud the leadership of county supervisors Lynda Hopkins and Shirlee Zane for calling for better answers to sustain our community’s essential mental health programs. They deserve all our help.
It’s been said — and it is just beginning to be realized — that the October fires forever changed Sonoma County’s profile, priorities and its people. We just lived through our own version of Hurricane Katrina or a San Francisco earthquake.
We can see the physical destruction of burned homes and neighborhoods that surround us. It is easy to record the billions of rebuilding costs. But it is not so easy to compute the costs of mental trauma and the increased impacts to so many lives that were already broken or in crisis.
A strong Sonoma County can’t be built without strong minds.
