Viewpoint: Improved mental health care access requires investments from partners like UM Health-Sparrow.
People throughout Michigan urgently need more behavioral health resources, and it will take all of us working together to expand access and meet the needs of our communities.
In the past few years, the State of Michigan has made impactful progress strengthening access to these critical, life-saving services. Thanks to the Michigan Legislature’s and Gov. Whitmer’s support, we have invested more than $360 million to improve access to behavioral health programs for youth and adults in our communities. This includes expanding certified community behavioral health clinics, developing more crisis stabilization units and psychiatric residential treatment facilities to relieve pressures on emergency departments, improving mental health resources in schools, and supporting the Michigan Crisis and Access phone line. We are also continuing to support the current and future behavioral health care workforce through scholarships and internship stipends to students, along with expanding student loan repayment programs.
However, the needs are far too great for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) to solve alone. We rely on partners across the state that share our commitment to ensuring that every family in Michigan has access to the behavioral health services where and when they need them. Together with our partners and advocates, we’re making significant changes to reshape the behavioral health continuum of care that builds on our existing network of services and resources — home- and community-based care as well as inpatient care.
That means bringing more resources to local communities, as the University of Michigan Health-Sparrow is seeking to do with its proposed 120-bed facility for adults and adolescents in Lansing. As the director of MDHHS and a Lansing resident, I have seen the impact of insufficient mental health care resources. Yet, I am proud to say that we remain committed to increasing access to behavioral health care services ─ in a way that creates equitable opportunities for all individuals and families to be healthy.
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UM Health-Sparrow’s planned facility represents the kind of high-quality local care we need to ensure every Michigan family has access to the continuum of behavioral health care services they need and deserve.
MDHHS will keep working to ensure there are multiple points of access for coordinated, quality and affordable care that any family can turn to when they need it.
Elizabeth Hertel is the Director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
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This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: UM Health-Sparrow’s mental health facility is needed to serve Lansing