Cutbacks may imperil services
Washington School District student Kameron Patterson works with behavioral specialist consultant Elliot Branch on his homework.
State Rep. Brandon Neuman, left, talks with behavior specialist Marcus Staley, center, and Doug Crouse about how behavioral support has helped Crouse.
Kameron Patterson, 13, was diagnosed with ADHD. The disorder was causing him to have a hard time in school, but with the help of behavioral health services, Patterson has earned a wall full of framed awards for high honors and other achievements.
Washington High School student Kameron Patterson, his dad, Kevin Patterson, second from left, and therapeutic support staffer Carl Grinage, upper right, talk with state Rep. Brandon Neuman about how budget cuts could affect Kameron.
Kevin Patterson of Washington recognized by the time his son Kameron had entered Head Start that he was “just a little bit different.”
Sure, most young boys are rambunctious, but Kameron was rambunctious and then some. By the time Kameron reached second grade at Washington Park Elementary School, his father was fielding, on average, two to four phone calls a day from exasperated teachers and administrators about unruly and impulsive behavior that seemingly couldn’t be tamped down.
Eventually, Kevin engaged the help of behavioral health workers who work with Kameron both at home and at school to keep him on track, accountable and following instructions. Today, the Patterson living room on Lawrence Avenue is decorated with trophies and awards commemorating now-13-year-old Kameron’s achievements in the classroom and on the football field, and he hopes that once he reaches his later teens he can go to college and be a football player.
“These guys have worked tooth and nail to get (Kameron) on track,” Kevin Patterson said.
No longer just sloughed off as a child’s natural tendency to roughhouse and test limits, the attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder that plagues the younger Patterson has a clinical diagnosis and is now subject to intensive and sophisticated treatment methods. But there is concern that the type of treatment that Kameron receives could be imperiled due to a decade of cuts to Pennsylvania’s human services budget. Those who already are receiving assistance could see it scaled back, and those who could benefit by it might never get it in the first place.
The cuts have “impacted the way we treat children and adolescents who need care,” according to John Bout, executive director of Behavioral Dynamics in North Franklin Township. “There’s a really small window to reach kids with mental illness.”
He added, “We’re going to pay now or pay later,” and that’s a notion that other experts in the field express. They argue that without early intervention, untreated mental health problems in children and young adults can later metastasize into problems that will be even more troublesome and costly – addiction, crime, violence and incarceration.
The cuts to mental health services have been spread across both the Ed Rendell and Tom Corbett administrations. In the 2012 fiscal year, $662 million was allocated for mental health programs, down from $717 million in 2011, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. But the Keystone State is hardly alone – between 2009 and 2012, $4.3 billion was hacked out of public mental health spending nationwide, according to figures from the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors. In that three-year span, to cite one example, South Carolina’s mental health spending was sliced by 39 percent.
“The devil is in the details,” said Karen Bennett, the director of human services for Greene County. While she has not had to turn anyone down for treatment, she foresees the possibility that some treatment programs could be curtailed.
It could be argued that mental health programs have proved to be a tempting target for budget cutters because mental health is less tangible than physical health – a tumor is something that needs immediate treatment, while something like depression is more amorphous. Also, “There’s the stigma of people with mental health problems,” said Janice Taper, the administrator of Washington County Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. “So when the state started to get into the budget, where do you think the place would be where they would cut?”
A bill is pending in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives that would restore $84 million that was taken out of the 2012-13 budget. Community mental health, intellectual disability, addiction, homeless assistance and other programs have fallen victim to the budget knife. State Reps. Brandon Neuman, D-North Strabane, Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, Pete Daley, D-California, Jesse White, D-Cecil, and John Maher, R-Upper St. Clair, are among its cosponsors.
If those dollars were to return, “We would all be doing a backflip,” Taper said.
In the meantime, Kevin Patterson insists that his son would not be making progress without one-on-one treatment that he receives at home and in school.
“Just going to an office would make no difference,” he said. “These guys have worked diligently to get him to where he needs to be.”