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| CSB FUNDING: URGENT NEED TO SUPPORT MENTALLY ILL |
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CSB FUNDING: AN URGENT NEED
FOR SUPPORT TO MENTALLY ILL AND OTHERS
The CSB is a vital component of the public safety net for treating DeKalb County's most vulnerable citizens with mental health and developmental disabilities, as well and those in need of addiction services. Cuts to CSB services adversely impact the ability for individuals requiring mental health care to receive treatment in appropriate settings, not in jails where society unfairly stigmatizes them as criminals. We rely on the DeKalb CSB to provide treatment that diverts individuals from jail.
I have witnessed the effects of the state’s 33 percent cut in CBS funding over the past five years and fear that funding proposals currently on the legislative table calling for additional cuts of 30 percent in fiscal year 2007, which begins in July 2006, will be even more devastating.
After CSB funding cuts in 2004, jail mental health costs, such as spending for psychotropic drugs, escalated due to the number of incarcerated mentally ill citizens. These citizens were jailed because the police had no other place to take them due to lack of access to CSB facilities.
I am very concerned that we are witnessing an insensitivity that is forcing our mentally ill into jails and prisons as an avenue for treatment, while detrimentally downsizing and perhaps closing already overloaded yet well-managed centers, like DeKalb’s CSB, where care and treatment without criminalization are provided. The domino effect of diminished suitable services merely "shifts" the problem away from the provider that is better prepared to address it.
With the 2006 legislative session now underway, and with proposed cuts to CSB services “on the table,” I earnestly solicit the support of DeKalb’s citizens -- and the intervention of those elected to serve us -- in restoring appropriate funding for mental health and substance abuse services.
Further, I ask that our legislators ensure that no additional cuts are made to the DeKalb CSB and that prior years' cuts be restored to re-establish and sustain these vital, humane services to the community.
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