A letter from the CEO, John Masterson, about BHR’s work in the community

The revenue forecast is dire. Washington's budget deficit is now edging close to $9 billion through mid-2011. The Legislature is expected to finally unveil its budget plans in the coming weeks. BHR anticipates significant cuts will be made in mental health and substance abuse services.

With fewer resources, BHR and our peer organizations around the state will have to reduce expenses and consequently, services. We will do everything within our power to best serve clients the best we can with the resources we will have. And yet we must be clear that we will have fewer staff resulting in longer waits for services, programs will close (in fact BHR is closing the Crisis Clinic Resource Network, Developmentally Disabled specialist services and a Chemical Dependency specialist ), “non-Medicaid” eligible persons will have no access to ongoing care due to lack of resources.

In the next few weeks, our state Legislature will be preparing a new budget based on the new revenue forecast. That's an extremely difficult task in these tough times. But it's important for our representatives to hear from local residents about Thurston, Mason and Grays Harbor County's priorities.

BHR provides mental health treatment services to persons with little income that are afflicted with severe and persistent illness. These are individuals whose disease is so severe that they are disabled and most often unable to work until they advance in their recovery. The same is often true for clients require treatment for substance abuse or addiction. In this role, BHR is part of the community safety net.

In 2008 BHR provided services to 3,464 clients dealing with mental illness, substance abuse or a combination of the two in Thurston, Mason and Grays Harbor Counties and provided more than 142,000 hours of care.

It is our hope that you will encourage our leaders to continue funding for mental health and substance abuse treatment in keeping our community healthy, safe and sound.

Additional Facts

Most in our community may think of mental illness as a problem for homeless people or perhaps a few troubled jail inmates. However, one in four people experience some sort of mental problem in a typical year, and up to 7 percent suffer from a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, depression or bipolar disorder. Further, one of every eight Americans has a significant problem with alcohol or drugs, with 40 percent of that group having a "dual diagnosis," or concurrent mental/nervous disorder.

BHR provides mental health and substance abuse services for primarily low income children and adults in Thurston, Mason and Grays Harbor Counties -- for your neighbors, co-workers, friends, relatives and, yes, to some homeless people and those held in the jail.

BHR offers a wide range of treatment and therapy, including psychiatric evaluations and medication management, outpatient services for mental illness and substance abuse – plus co-occurring services, case management, crisis stabilization counseling, on-site services at the Thurston County Jail and counseling for children and their families. We also provide services for acutely mentally ill patients at the Thurston County Evaluation and Treatment Center.

When we talk to people in our region, we find plenty of misunderstanding about our role and the pervasiveness of mental health problems here. We also realize we haven't told our story well enough so that people can judge how possible reductions in mental health funding would affect our citizens and the place we call home.

Here are some facts that might surprise you:

• Nearly 10 percent of children have a serious mental disorder.
• Mental disorders are the leading cause of disability for people aged 15-44.
• Adults with serious mental illness die 25 years younger than other Americans.
• People with mental illness who receive treatment are no more likely to be violent as people without mental illness.