Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Mental health care in Virginia still not meeting the needs of Virginians


In a recent report, The Daily Progress found that since 2007, Virginia’s mental health system has experienced reforms, “but significant gaps…remain.”[1] 2007 was the year that a gunman killed 33 people at Virginia Tech[2], throwing a giant spotlight on Virginia’s mental health system and its failure to avert the massacre.

One of the most important conclusions that the report reached was that many Virginians who seek mental health coverage end up on waiting lists for the care they are requesting.

According to Richard J. Bonnie, chairman of Virginia’s Commission on Mental Health Law Reform, the private system of mental health care is “simply unavailable in most parts of the state, or not available in a timely manner.”

It should not have taken another senseless killing spree to further attune the attention of Virginians to the need of mental health care in the Commonwealth, but this is exactly how it’s turned out.
In the wake of the killing spree in Newtown, Conn., Virginians and their elected representatives once again shifted their focus towards mental health care or the lack thereof.

Said Del. David J. Toscano (Charlottesville), “We did make the investment at the time, [but] we haven’t been able to keep pace with the need.”[3]

While the conversation shifted to guns in the wake of the Newtown shooting, one of the first lines of defense was largely ignored (i.e., mental health care).

We will never know if the gunman behind the Newtown killing spree would have been prevented had appropriate mental health care been received. It’s not even clear that the gunman had any tell-tale signs of mental illness that would have required mental health treatment.[4]

It is not debatable, however, that more efforts need to be made to “open up” mental health care to individuals who seek it. Like climate change and a host of other issues in this country, we have failed to address some of the more pertinent issues in our society and we have suffered the consequences as a result.

If our political representatives cannot find the political will and energy to make the appropriate changes to Virginia’s mental health care system now, maybe it’s them who need to have their heads examined.


[1] http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/article_b5623f2c-4ca1-11e2-ba0b-0019bb30f31a.html
[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/us/16cnd-shooting.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
[3] http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/article_b5623f2c-4ca1-11e2-ba0b-0019bb30f31a.html
[4] http://thegrio.com/2012/12/17/adam-lanza-and-aspergers-syndrome-sandy-hook-massacre-puts-mental-health-in-the-national-spotlight/

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