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EDITORIAL: Oklahoma mental health agency doing good work, but much more needed

Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) - 12/21/2014

Dec. 21--IN coming weeks, lawmakers will listen to a chorus of agency directors tell them what they need from the Legislature in order to do their jobs in the next fiscal year. The needs are many in Oklahoma, but the dollars may be fewer than were available for this year. That means difficult decisions are in store.

We're encouraged by the talk from legislative leaders in the Republican-controlled Legislature that corrections reform will be a priority. The state can't simply continue practices that have resulted in overflowing prisons but no significant improvement in the violent crime rate.

Similarly, the state must begin to deal with mental health concerns in new ways, because making inroads in this area helps drive down the jail and prison populations and reduce Oklahoma's high rates of drug and alcohol abuse, suicide and other social ills.

Gov. Mary Fallin has championed the state's mental health agency, although this fiscal year -- another tight budget period for the state -- it received only a $1 million bump. This necessitated cuts of $20 million to a program that provides rehabilitative services for youngsters: The agency didn't have the funding needed to meet matching requirements for Medicaid.

Mental health director Terri White plans to ask lawmakers for an additional $10.2 million to maintain existing programs at current levels. Much of that would be used to manage the Medicaid match in the behavioral health program. The funding also would be used to maintain drug court slots, keep the state's Systems of Care program going at full speed and reimburse law enforcement for transporting mentally ill offenders to crisis centers.

White boasts that the Systems of Care program, in place in all but five counties, has become a model for other states. It's aimed at children ages 6 to 18 with serious emotional and behavioral problems. The program has succeeded in greatly reducing out-of-home placements and arrests.

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