Friday, March 13, 2009

PA earns a 'C' in mental health report card



The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has released a new report, "Grading the States," assessing the nation's public mental health care system for adults.

The national average grade is a D.

Pennsylvania earned a "C" grade in the report, an improvement over the "D" the state earned in 2006.

Fourteen states improved their grades since NAMI's last report card three years ago. Twelve states fell backwards. Oklahoma showed the biggest improvement, rising from a D to a B. South Carolina fell the farthest, from a B to a D, according to NAMI.

The Alliance warns that state budget cuts are threatening mental health care overall.
"Mental health care in America is in crisis," said NAMI executive director Michael J. Fitzpatrick. "Even states that have worked hard to build life-saving, recovery-oriented systems of care stand to see their progress wiped out."

"Ironically, state budget cuts occur during a time of economic crisis when mental heath services are needed even more urgently than before. It is a vicious cycle that can lead to ruin. States need to move forward, not retreat."
Check out how your state did on the report card at this link.

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS