County slates $800,000 for kids’ mental health
Spokane County commissioners agreed on Tuesday to provide more than $800,000 to revamp children’s mental health programs in Spokane during the next two years.
The county will provide the money only if its community services department secures a $9 million federal grant that when matched with required local money could total $17.5 million over six years.
“We believe we can serve families and children much better than we have,” said Edie Rice-Sauer, administrator of the Spokane regional support network, which oversees the county’s public mental health programs. “It’s going to push our system to look at how we deliver services.”
The Spokane mental health system serves more than 1,200 children and teenagers each month, according to 2003 data. But for many, the first encounter with mental health services comes after encounters with law enforcement and the juvenile justice system.
A 2004 national survey found that each night, 2,000 juveniles are in detention waiting for community mental health services.
Mental health leaders say the changes to the mental health system, known locally as the Children’s Initiative, would bring together experts from health care, schools, juvenile justice and related fields to provide services that match the needs of the child.
“Most mental health systems across the country have not been successful in dealing with the issue of severely emotionally disturbed children,” said Roy Harrington, of Washington State University, which has been hired to help the county develop the services. “This goes beyond funding detention beds. It gets at things earlier when you really have a chance to make a difference.”
Commissioners Todd Mielke and Mark Richard said that the local funding will be well spent because of the large amount of grant money it will attract to the community. Richard said that it’s important for the community to help mentally ill children as part of its responsibility to protect those who can’t protect themselves.
The deadline for the federal grant, offered through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is May 17.
Mental health officials have already begun meeting with parents to discuss their views of Spokane’s programs. A 2004 survey by the Department of Social and Health Services found only 64 percent of children or their caregivers in Spokane found that services were readily accessible through the public mental health system – several points below the state average.
“The families are the ones who know their child and their issues better than anyone else,” Harrington said. “It is family- and consumer-driven. It is culturally competent. That’s the core of it.”
On Tuesday, commissioners agreed to support the first two years of the grant. The grant’s funding structure gradually shifts the cost from the federal government to local entities.
In the first three years, local government must contribute $1.5 million. In the last three years of the grant, that amount rises to $7 million.