By Susan Cover Maine PUBLISHED 2:11 PM ET Nov. 30, 2022 Gordon Smith’s office gets calls every day from people struggling to find help with substance use disorder. As the state’s director of opioid response, he hears from mothers and fathers who have lost a family member to an overdose. And he hears from those who try to get help, but can’t find it. “An individual was taken to the emergency department and after five hours was literally told we will get to you after ... Read More ›
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With the worst of the pandemic hopefully behind us, now is the time to finally develop a statewide strategic plan to rebuild our behavioral health system and ensure that our most vulnerable residents have access to community support and the services necessary to live safe and productive lives. Our system is simply too fragile to endure another crisis. We can and must do better.
Credit: George Danby / BDN The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set newsroom policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com. Malory Shaughnessy is the executive director of the Alliance for Addiction and Mental Health Services. Betsy Sweet is senior advocate with the Behavioral Health Community Collaborative. Katie Fullam Harris is the chief government affairs officer of MaineHealth. At the end of June, ... Read More ›
Maine hospitals, mental health advocates want more funding to address gaps
Author: Don Carrigan Published: 9:30 PM EST March 2, 2022 "Hospital leaders, including Scott Oxley, president of Acadia Hospital in Bangor, said the major problem causing extended patient stays in emergency rooms is a lack of community and residential mental health services. They said the chronic underfunding of those programs, coupled with a worsening shortage of mental health workers, have made treatment hard to find." #SaveMentalHealthinMaine #FundMentalHealthforMaine ... Read More ›
Maine Med president: Lack of state mental health investment is major factor in ER violence
Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer BY JEFF SANDERS, SPECIAL TO THE PRESS HERALD "...We all agree that individuals with mental illness and developmental disabilities should be in the least restrictive settings in which they can safely and successfully live. But when group homes and residential treatment facilities do not have adequate clinical resources to manage a patient’s behavior, they often bring the individual to the ED. When police do not want to criminalize an illness, they have no ... Read More ›
Gov. Mills barely mentioned opioid crisis in State of the State, and people noticed
"...Malory Shaughnessy, director of the Alliance for Addiction and Mental Health Services, Maine, acknowledged the systemic improvements being implemented by the administration. But she said it was “really disconcerting” not to hear the governor talk about about the immediate challenge of keeping people alive. “They’re looking at big picture, big fixes which are longer-term responses, which are great and we totally support those,” Shaughnessy said. “But they’re missing the serious crisis ... Read More ›
Maine’s unmet behavioral health care needs must be top funding priority
en. Marianne Moore, R-Calais, is serving her second term in the Maine Senate and is a member of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee. Rep. Lori K. Gramlich, D-Old Orchard Beach, is a long-time social worker serving her second term in the Maine House. She co-chairs the Behavioral Health Caucus. During her State of the State address last week, Gov. Janet Mills outlined her priorities for this legislative session. While we have more to learn about her proposed supplemental ... Read More ›
Maine has a budget surplus, but many unmet needs remain
One of the most talked about aspects of Gov. Janet Mills’ State of the State last week was the proposal to return half of the state’s expected budget surplus to Maine taxpayers in the form of $500 checks for most. Some Republicans criticized the governor for usurping the idea. Former Gov. Paul LePage, who is now running against Mills, called the governor’s plan a gimmick. This is odd criticism since Mills gave Republican legislative leaders full credit for the idea, which may be a hard sell ... Read More ›
Maine Attorney General reaches agreement to distribute opioid settlement funds
Maine's Attorney General says the state has reached an agreement with municipalities, counties, and school districts on how to disburse funds from a national settlement with opioid distributors and manufacturers. It could funnel up to $130 million into the state over the next 18 years to help respond to the opioid crisis. The agreement allocates the settlement funds into three buckets. Twenty percent will go to the state, through the Attorney General's office. Thirty percent will go to 39 ... Read More ›
Critical mental health teams in Maine under financial strain
Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams provide community-based mental health treatment and services. Author: Vivien Leigh (NEWS CENTER Maine) Published: 5:26 PM EST January 20, 2022 Updated: 8:06 PM EST January 27, 2022 BANGOR, Maine — For decades, Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams have provided a critical safety net for Mainers struggling with severe mental health issues. The vital treatment services allow patients to stay in their communities and out of mental health ... Read More ›
New bills look to address Maine’s mental health pandemic
Author: Sam Rogers (NEWS CENTER Maine) Published: 7:36 PM EST January 18, 2022 Updated: 2:51 PM EST January 19, 2022 AUGUSTA, Maine — As the COVID-19 pandemic seems to go on without an end date, lawmakers in Augusta are working to meet the needs of Mainers as we near the two-year anniversary of the first positive case recorded in the state. The Legislature's Committee on Health and Human Services has been tasked with reviewing, workshopping, and passing legislation to best ... Read More ›