May is Mental Health Awareness month, but funding for people in need of help is drying up.

During the Monroe County commissioners meeting this month, a woman from the community asked if the county was seeing any financial cuts due to the changes in the federal government.

Commissioner John Christy, who serves as chairman, told her yes.

“One of the big things that we’re experiencing right now is in Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug & Alcohol (Commission),” he said. “The state was using money that was left over from the American Rescue Plan and the federal government took that money back, so we have gone back 10 years on how we provide services for people that need to get into rehab.”

Scrambling for grants

Christy thinks that without the funding, they will have to get creative in finding ways to get people into rehabilitation long enough to help them.

“When I first started as commissioner, we could only get people 14 days of rehab,” Christy said, and gave an example.

“We would put you into rehab on the 15th of May, so that you would get 14 days in May, and then 14 days in June.” This got people at least 28 days of rehabilitation care.

Now with the funding gone, “even getting into the medical assistance program is a little tougher, so that has really put us back,” Christy said.

The county is “scrambling” to find grants, he said.

At their meeting, the commissioners did give the green light to the Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug & Alcohol Commission to enter into a professional services agreement with Carbon-Monroe-Pike Mental Health and Development Services for case management services for $69,590 from April 1 to Dec. 31.

Overdoses

And they are still disbursing money from the Opioid Settlement Agreement. That money can only be given to programs that deal with opioid-related situations. This is a requirement of the Opioid Settlement Agreement.

The commissioners gave $16,851.90 Recovery Revolution in an opioid grant, and approved agreements with Nehemiah Sober Living Inc., which will receive $10,000, and the recovery center NorthBound, which will get $55,000.

The commissioners also approved using money from the settlement of purchase a vehicle for the Law Enforcement Treatment Initiative program. Christy said the LETI program has a case manager and detective “go out to every reported overdose that happens. In Monroe County in the past four months, we’ve had 84 reported overdoses.”

The vehicle is going to be purchased from Enterprise Fleet Management for $47,217.83.

Breaking down the stigma of mental health issues is important, Christy said.

In honor of May being Mental Health Awareness month, the commissioners gave a certificate to staff from Carbon-Monroe-Pike Mental Health and Development Services. The certificate talked about reducing the stigma.

It stated that “mental health is a key component to every individual’s overall physical health and emotional well-being” and mental illness can affect people all races, ages and income levels. Only 50% of people with a serious mental illness seek treatment due to the stigma, discrimination and feelings of shame. Untreated mental illness can lead to “higher rates of emergency department visits, hospitalizations, school dropouts and suicides,” it stated.

Reducing stigma and raising public awareness about mental illness “can positively transform attitudes about and towards people with mental illness.”

Christy said, “That is probably the number one thing that people can do, to realize that there is a lot of people who suffer from mental health problems.”

Christy thanked the staff from Carbon-Monroe-Pike Mental Health for its work.

“The services they provide are definitely warranted,” he said.