Mental health news: Ore. lawmakers make children's funding push; Conn. panel makes recommendations

Mar 7 2013

Lawmakers and officials from Oregon, Connecticut and around the nation deal with treating and paying for how they treat the mentally ill.

The Lund Report: State Could See "Game-Changing" Spike For Children's Mental Health
Courtney signaled for community mental health -- at least for children -- when the increased funding made a list of priorities when the co-chairs released their two-year spending plan Monday morning. Courtney's proposal called for a funding increase of $331 million for community mental health, including $46 million for children and adolescents -- $28 million more than what Gov. John Kitzhaber had earmarked (Gray, 3/5).

CT Mirror: Mental Health Panel Makes Four Recommendations
The bipartisan panel examining mental health issues agreed Tuesday to four recommendations that could become part of legislation intended to respond to the mass shooting at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School. Legislative leaders are crafting a bill to address mental health, gun violence and school security. It's expected to be taken up in the coming weeks. The mental health panel also released 21 recommendations that didn't get support from the full group, including changes to insurance regulations and gun permit applications, expanding school-based health centers, allowing outpatient commitment, and moving responsibility for children's mental health from the Department of Children and Families to the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (Becker, 3/5).

CBS Evening News: Patients As Prisoners, Jails As New Mental Health Institutions (Video)
Congress today heard from parents of mentally-ill children, describing long waits for mental health care and a shortage of psychiatrists. The problems have become urgent in the wake of mass killings including those at Newtown, Connecticut and Aurora, Colorado. With a shortage of mental facilities, jails have become the new asylums. At Chicago's biggest jail, a mentally ill inmate does a front flip on her bed, refusing medication. Correctional and medical staff moves in as the inmate struggles and they put their hands on her back, trying to restrain her. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says it's just another day at his jail. ''This is something that happens all the time here and the heart of it is, we're not a mental health facility. These people should not be here,'' said Dart (Miller, 3/5).