For decades the community mental health agencies or CMHAs have been the sole providers of specialized and detailed behavioral health services in remote areas and associated rural areas. The chief source for the CMHAs has been since its inception the federal government. CMHA facilities have done a great deal of constructive work in relation to provision of the best care available to mental patients. CMHAs have been providing cheap and affordable services to their clientele due to the significant amounts of funding received from the state government and indeed revolutionized the concept of affordable and reliable mental healthcare services. These facilities have for the longest time been recipients of the funding they require and have made good on their usage of the funds received to ensure their clientele are recipients of only the best available type of mental healthcare both in terms of infrastructure and also in terms of service delivery and efficiency.
The fairytale story of CMHA providing affordable mental health care in rural areas is about to come to an end as dark clouds dawn the horizon. The federal government has strategically commenced on a program of cutting down its funding and among the major and immediate casualties are the CMHAs. These institutions have been running effectively for decades almost solely on state government funding and this new legislation advocating for a reduction in funding could greatly hamper their day to day activities, quality of mental health care rendered to clients and the general operational capabilities of these facilities especially in rural areas where the extent of the services they render is fully felt and highly valued by the residents.
On the frontline of those who will suffer as a result of this new policy of budget cuts is the staff that works at CMHA facilities throughout the country. Reduction in funding means that the CMHA facilities will not be capable of sustaining all of their staff members. This will lead to massive loss of employment for people who have served their country diligently and faithfully in the production of the necessary mental healthcare needs of the country. This massive retrenchment of employees might lead to CMHA facilities ending up understaffed and thus incapable of providing the high levels of mental healthcare they are accustomed to and is expected of them by society.
The patients will also suffer greatly as a result of these budget cuts. Reduction in funding means that the CMHA facilities will be unable to render their services to patients without the intervention of a third party in terms of funding. It will become increasingly difficult and eventually impossible for these facilities to offer their services to patients who are not covered by insurance. The fact that these facilities render most of their services in rural areas shows that most of their customers are poor and cannot afford insurance cover. This will mean inevitable turning away of needy patients by these facilities because someone has to pay for the medication available and the therapeutic services offered. This will lead to worsening in condition of patients who would have otherwise recovered and become useful members of the society.
The reduction of state funding to the CMHA facilities throughout the country mean that these facilities will only be able to provide diminishing proportions of the services they were previously capable and fond of providing. The dependency of the CMHAs on state funding means that reduction in this funding will lead to decreased service production and ultimately the suffering of patients.
References
Mental illness in the family. (2009). Toronto: Canadian Mental Health Association.
The myths of mental illness. (2003). Toronto: Canadian Mental Health Association.
