Obama Cares or Obama Scares?

As the mental health industry celebrates President Obama’s gun control and mental health awareness initiative, I for one am keeping my excitement on ice. There are still far too many questions, too much of a mountain to move, and too many baseless promises never followed through by elected government officials. The stigma of mental health is thick and resonates through society like cigarette smoke, leaving the stale smell on everything that someone suffering with mental health issues wears. This powerful stigma often creates the problem of people reaching out for help. "The sense of shame and secrecy associated with mental illness prevents too many people from seeking help," the proposed plan says. It’s uncertain if these measures can start the process of educating and creating awareness of the importance of early detection. Obama centered in on prevention, awareness, and early indicators instead of creating a plan that deals with crisis intervention due to the recent shootings at schools and public places.

One of the key new programs being proposed is Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education), to reach 750,000 young people with mental illness and refer them to treatment. The plan notes that 75% of mental illness appears by age 24. Project AWARE would include $15 million to train teachers and other adults to detect and respond to mental illness in children and adolescents, as well as another $40 million to help school districts and other community institutions make sure young people get help they need. The president also proposed $25 million for state efforts to identify and treat adolescents and young adults, ages 16 to 25, who often fall through the cracks after school. Project AWARE also includes $40 million to help school districts work with law enforcement, mental health agencies, and other local organizations to assure students with mental health issues or other behavioral issues are referred to the services they need. This initiative builds on strategies that, for over a decade, have proven to decrease violence in schools and increase the number of students receiving mental health services.

• How stringent will confidentiality be? Will parents be made aware?
• How is this different from what is happening now?
• If money was this readily available, why hasn’t more been done already?
• Are schools required to put in these measures?

Obama also proposes putting up to 1,000 new school resource officers and school counselors on the job.The Obama Administration is proposing a new Comprehensive School Safety program, which will help school districts hire staff and make other critical investments in school safety. The program will give $150 million to school districts and law enforcement agencies to hire school resource officers, school psychologists, social workers, and counselors. The Department of Justice will also develop a model for using school resource officers, including best practices on age-appropriate methods for working with students. Experts often cite the shortage of mental health service providers as one reason it can be hard to access treatment. To help fill this gap, the Administration is proposing $50 million to train social workers, counselors, psychologists, and other mental health professionals. This would provide stipends and tuition reimbursement to train more than 5,000 mental health professionals serving young people in our schools and communities.

• With new jobs being created, what qualifications will be put in place for individuals hired?
• What preventative measures will be put in place to prevent overwhelming caseloads for trained professionals?
• Do onsite officers prevent violence or create violence?

The shame, guilt, fears, loneliness is paralyzing and debilitating to people suffering from mental health or substance abuse issues. Society’s views and beliefs that you should be able to do it on your own are only adding to the problem. Obama’s Administration feels a national awareness campaign will buck society’s views and beliefs, to increase understanding about mental health:The sense of shame and secrecy associated with mental illness prevents too many people from seeking help. The President is directing Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan to launch a national dialogue about mental illness with young people who have experienced mental illness, members of the faith community, foundations, and school and business leaders. This sort of dialogue is tremendously easier said than done, and is an issue that mental health executives and clinicians have been dealing with for quite some time. The Obama Administration is responsible for the largest cut to mental health than any other Administration, yet now they are proposing an industry-changing preventative movement and awareness.

• Why should I believe this Administration?
• Are these proposals even possible to administer? Or are they shallow promises?
• What does this do to the mental health industry that I currently work in?

I pose these questions to you, due to being mesmerized by words and promises pertaining to an industry that I love and initiatives that are long overdue.