Pat Smathers Takes The Crisis Seriously

Pat Smathers is running for Lieutenant Governor, and he’s the first candidate to demonstrate an understanding of the depth, breadth, and urgency of our mental health care crisis. In an email sent yesterday in advance of the Mental Health Coalition Forum on Monday in Raleigh, Smathers tells it like it is:

“We must begin an honest conversation about how we can improve mental health care statewide.”
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Our mental health system is in crisis. North Carolina is ranked 43rd in the nation for per capita mental health spending. Privatization of the system in 2001, hailed as a solution, has resulted in the closure of hospitals and clinics and ultimately made it harder for many North Carolinians to get help. Our current mental health system is a haphazard array of chronically under-funded programs that have failed all North Carolinians, but most especially our rural residents and veterans.”

Mayor Smathers hits the nail on the head. The gang in Raleigh has kicked this can down the road for years, watching as the system grew more and more fragile. With too few exceptions, Raleigh politicians have allowed and encouraged the decline and crisis in our mental health system. Smathers’ outsider status couldn’t be more welcome than it is in the mental health care crisis arena. Raleigh politicians have cut funding, laughed off the State consultant’s recommendations, and counted on public apathy to ignore their failures.

Some candidates have focused their mental health crisis solutions on the hospitals while ignoring the bulk of the problem – the collapse of community mental health. Not so Smathers. He lays out an initial proposal and promises more at the Coalition Forum on Monday:

“We need to immediately increase state funding and support for community-based initiatives, including emergency clinics and outreach programs. Through a collaboration of state and local leadership, we can fix this system and finally do right by all the citizens of North Carolina.

I look forward to sharing more of my ideas with you at the forum this Monday at the RBC Center in Raleigh. I will begin speaking at 9:15 a.m. I hope to see you there.”

I’m looking forward to hearing what you have to say, Mayor Smathers.

Kudos to the Coalition for putting together a forum that will educate all of these candidates about the urgency of the crisis in mental health. Without sustained effort, Raleigh would’ve kept sweeping this issue under the rug the way they have for the last five years. Governor Mike Easley and his appointees are largely responsible for this crisis, and I’ll need to hear candidates promise a departure from Easley’s apparent contempt for mental health services. Pat Smathers is the first candidate I’ve heard address the crisis with clarity and intention.

Here’s hoping a lot of new ideas and commitments are on display Monday at the Forum. BlueNC’s lcloud will be attending, so we ought to get an excellent report.