Community-based system must undergo review

From The Boston Globe, Feb. 2, 2011

THE TRAGIC killing of Stephanie Moulton affects everyone who provides care and services to men and women with mental illness. Such tragedies are thankfully rare, but as the Globe noted in its editorial, the Department of Mental Health and private providers have an obligation to provide a safe environment for clients and staff (“Murder in Revere group home shows need for criminal checks,’’ Jan. 31).

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Yahoo! Buzz ShareThis .Both organizations mentioned by the Globe, North Suffolk Mental Health and Bay Cove Human Services, are members of the Association for Behavioral Healthcare. For decades, both have provided high-quality, professional, and compassionate care to individuals with mental illness in residential settings in and around Boston. All ABH members remain committed to providing community-based services to people struggling with mental illness to help them achieve recovery.

ABH and other mental health advocacy organizations have requested that Barbara Leadholm, the state’s mental health commissioner, appoint an independent third party to review systemic issues surrounding the publicly funded community-based mental health system. As our letter to her stated, “We believe DMH needs to forcefully and directly examine all the systemic issues raised by this tragedy, or that task could be assumed by others with an agenda to dismantle rather than to improve the system.’’

Community-based services for individuals with mental illness have improved the lives of countless men and women. The mental health community grieves Moulton’s loss, and we owe it to her, her colleagues, and clients to ensure that the community-based system promotes recovery in a safe environment.

Vic DiGravio
President and CEO Association for Behavioral