Monday, May 12, 2003

Inside Drug Court (Florida)
Feature article in the Sunday St. Augustine Record - "Touted nationwide for saving tax dollars and breaking addiction patterns, the program started locally in November .... [Participants] work one-on-one with counselors, law enforcement, a probation officer, a prosecutor, defense attorneys, a mental health analyst, a program coordinator, a circuit judge and more. The program lasts 12 to 18 months. Participants proceed through four phases: Phase I lasts at least one month, II lasts at least four months, III lasts at least five months, and IV lasts at least two months."  
  

No program's immune from state budget ax: potentially unprecedented cuts especially tough on lean counties (California)
SF Gate story - "Bay Area school districts, county governments and other organizations that rely on state funds are bracing this week for what could be the deepest budget cuts ever -- affecting everyone from kindergartners to elderly Alzheimer's patients. The state's fiscal crisis will eclipse the economic downturn of a decade ago and even the drastic property tax rollback under Proposition 13 in 1978, officials predict. Some counties in the region already are shuttering medical and mental health clinics and expecting layoffs that will mean fewer workers for critical jobs, from rescuing abused children to helping welfare recipients find work."  
  

Behavioral Health Unit opens (New Hampshire)
Portsmouth Herald Business News story - "Portsmouth Regional Hospital this past week unveiled its new Behavioral Health Unit, symbolizing not only a new direction for the hospital, but how mental health care is changing across the country. The unit held an open house on Thursday and opens officially to patients tomorrow. ... Current programs include addiction recovery; an intensive outpatient treatment program for adults; an in-patient assessment program for 'impaired professionals'; an intensive behavioral health program; and services for some adolescents and senior citizens."  
  

New facility for mentally ill proposed (Montana)
Story in the Missoulian - "A recently closed wing of the psychiatric unit at the Billings Deaconess Clinic is being eyed by some in Montana as the site for a new, government-funded inpatient facility for the mentally ill. Deaconess Billings Clinic Psychiatric Services closed 11 beds this past October. That wing could be reopened to accommodate about 14 beds, said Joan Daly, the manager of the psychiatric center."