US OR THEMSELVES?

What do you believe Ed? I ask myself that question about a year ago as I found myself facing a serious surgery to repair an abdominal aorta aneurysm. As I listen to the political rhetoric this year, I ask myself the same question. As I read about the mental health reforms that were begun in this state (North Carolina) in 2001, again I have to ask myself what I believe.
It is important to have a solid foundation of beliefs by which you test the assertions of any idea. If you don’t have these concrete principles or beliefs then you can be blown around like tumbleweed on the desert landscape.
At a news conference this week North Carolina’s governor said, “We had our concerns about the reform of 2001. We believed that it was a privatization that went too far too quickly.” (THE NEWS & OBSERVER)
I think this is 2008 and if I had thought something was wrong in 2001 I might have started sooner saying so. The governor sounded like he has been helpless over these past years to stop the train wreck. If that is true then why would anyone agree to give his appointed head of the Department of Health and Human Services more power?
THE NEWS & OBERVER put it this way, “ Gov. Mike Easley called on state legislators Tuesday to give his administration more authority to fix the state's troubled mental health system. Though he said he was not attempting to lay blame for the problems, the governor repeatedly pointed to the General Assembly and local mental health agencies as those primarily responsible for bungling the 2001 reform plan. Easley again contended that his administration "vigorously" opposed the plan from the start -- a version of history that does not square with the written record or the statements of the bill's primary sponsor. Implemented by the Easley administration over the past six years, the reforms dismantled an established system of county-run mental health offices and sought to pay businesses to do the work. It also sought to reduce the size of the state's four psychiatric hospitals in favor of more treatment in the community. “
So what are some basic building blocks one might look for in a plan or system to ascertain if it is built on a solid foundation?
1) Is the system First-Person? One of the first things that hit me head on when I returned to North Carolina after being away for more than a decade was that primary consumers are generally included only on advisory committees or in advisory roles, but not in the real decision making process other than maybe a token position. The other thing that amazed me was that the individual plans were not really driven by the person, but everybody under the sun was asked their opinion about what the person ought to do. Looking at these two facts alone one can tell the decision making process is not First-Person or consumer driven and nor are the service plans.
2) How many independent consumer run programs are operating in the state? The answer to this question gives you some idea to what degree the power structure believes in the recovery movement. Count the number of independent drop-in centers, safe houses, crisis services and other consumer run programs and you will know if they believe in us or themselves.
It is important what you come to the table believing. My fear is that there are few people at the table here in North Carolina who truly believes in us.
You can reach me directly at edcooper@projectdreamagain.com
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www.mentalhealthministries.net
www.pathways2promise.org
www.mentalhealthchaplain.org
www.annafoundation.org
www.ncmentalhope.org
www.faithnet.nami.org