Letter to the Editor

The News Courier encourages letters to the editor. Submissions should be no more than 400 words and include name, address and telephone number for verification. Submissions that do not meet requirements are subject to editing. Writers are limited to one published letter every 30 days. Send letters to P.O. Box 670, Athens AL 35613 or email to adam@athensnews-courier.com. The deadline for letters is Wednesday at noon.

More must be done for mentally ill

Dear Editor:

We must improve mental health care in Alabama, even if it requires that we spend more money. Sadly, we are not providing support to help sick citizens and their families avoid tragedy, even with existing sources of public funding. Our current law requires that we provide treatment including, if necessary, commitment for a person who is a danger to self or others.

Powerful statement. Weak follow-through. The News-Courier reported the case of Farron Barksdale, a schizophrenic who murdered two police officers in 2004. He received life in prison in 2007, and died there under circumstances that caused his mother to ask that the Alabama courts investigate the case.

There could be another Farron Barksdale. Last year, Limestone County lawmakers and law enforcement

personnel addressed fiscal resources for the mentally ill before the Limestone County Chamber of Commerce. At that meeting, Sheriff Mike Blakely stated that we put our mentally ill lawbreakers in jail “because the biggest problem is that we have no place [else] to put them.”

He is right, and it is getting worse. We have fewer and fewer beds for the mentally ill. As a psychotherapist, I know that accessing psychiatric assistance often turns into a merry-go-round of poor options. When a patient’s needs exceed the level of care my outpatient service can provide, their choices become bleak. They may seek introductory interviews at community mental health centers, but that often means waiting months for a meeting with a psychiatrist, then sometimes a denial of insurance coverage.

When we imprison the untreated mentally ill, they may become emotionally traumatized or suicidal, or their behavior may cause them to be injured or killed themselves. Prisons are not hospitals, guards are not therapists, and wardens are not psychiatrists. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson described Alabama’s care of mentally ill prisoners as “horribly inadequate.”

Poor mental health care is a tragedy, not only for the afflicted and their families but for us all. There are solutions and knowledgeable, caring people willing to help. None of us want another Farron Barksdale killing police officers. None of us want a family to suffer over the criminal acts or poor treatment of a loved one. None of us want to say, “If only something had been done.” We can avoid that by doing something that works.

Go to Mental Health America (www.mentalhealthamerica.net), for more information.

Sincerely,

Patty Wilkes,

licensed independent clinical social worker,

Athens