Mental Health Town Hall Highlights Funding
Recent state budget cuts made a big impact to departments like mental health, now advocates are raising concerns about the issue. Advocates came together at a town hall at the Montgomery Area Mental Health Authority to talk discuss the issues with Mental State Health Commissioner Jim Perdue. In the past 10 years mental hospitals have shut down, and funding has been cut. Commissioner Perdue says the funding is a vital part of expanding resources for people with mental health issues.
“We need to break down some of the walls between agencies and get the most efficient services we can, and that’s really my message. The next thing we need to do is receive funding that will help us to become better at providing deliveries we cant do with limited funding,” says Perdue.
Another issue the department faces is the decrease in employees. Ten years ago they had more than 2600 employees. Since then, Commissioner Perdue says that number has been cut in half to about 1300 employees. The department of mental health says it plans to host several other town hall events throughout the state in the next three weeks. Their next meeting will be held in Huntsville.
