Teresa Huggins, CEO of Stigler Health and Wellness Center, said Wednesday she was unaware some of her programs were on the list first reported on by NonDoc. That document from a meeting with lawmakers outlined a review of 573 contract line items covering a wide range of services. Of those, 312 are labeled as not being renewed, 122 as facing a funding reduction and 128 as being renewed.
Huggins said she had a meeting with agency officials a few weeks ago and was told the department was reviewing all contracts.
Huggins said Thursday, after speaking with her program director, the line items associated with Stigler had already been phased out because they weren't sustainable with available funding. For example, she said the center had ended its women and children's program on the list because they couldn't cover the cost.
Making those cuts has been devastating, she said.
"We have eliminated every expense possible that doesn't jeopardize patient safety," Huggins said. "We have nowhere left to cut."
Stigler Health and Wellness Center also recently announced the consolidation of its two substance use disorder (SUD) facilities serving Southeast Oklahoma. Huggins said she can't afford to sustain 100 beds on the current daily rate they're paid, meaning the region will lose 50 beds unless they are adequately funded to cover the costs.
"It's very challenging and it's very heartbreaking, because we're reducing services that save lives and impact families, and nobody wants to reduce mental health services when the nation and the state are in the middle of a mental health and SUD crisis," Huggins said.
Carrie Blumert, the CEO of Mental Health Association Oklahoma, said cuts to their programs also came as a surprise. She said she knew the budget was tight because of financial instability at the agency, but she didn't expect such significant changes so soon.
She said turnover at the department has made communication with officials difficult, and her organization received mixed messages about what funding changes to expect. Blumert said she was previously told one of the items not being renewed could go through a reapplication process before losing department support.
Mental Health Association Oklahoma is losing funding for four programs, two of which are directly serving clients, Blumert said. Creating Connections, a socialization program in Tulsa for adults living with mental illness, and Housing to Hope Youth Program, a transitional housing initiative in Oklahoma City, are both on the chopping block.
Blumert said her organization is trying to find private donors who can support the work, but if that doesn't happen, participants and staff could be affected.
"[It's] like an anxious buzz in the back of your brain that I could do everything right today, and I could still get a letter saying that our funding is cut," she said. "My staff could work hard and do everything right, and still, their program gets cut."
Agency faces financial instability
These cuts come months after a period of intense financial scrutiny of the Department of Mental Health, which revealed it was $30 million short of fulfilling its budget this spring. The announcement caught legislators by surprise, and agency officials struggled to explain how the agency ran out of money, spurring multiple concurrent investigations into its spending.
Lawmakers agreed to provide an emergency appropriation in May so the agency could pay its employees through the end of the fiscal year. In a near-unanimous vote, both chambers removed previous Commissioner Allie Friesen from her role at the head of the agency, citing a loss of confidence in her leadership.
Interim Commissioner Greg Slavonic, who was appointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt after Friesen was fired, said the agency is addressing provider contracts in an effort to guide the agency "back to a balanced budget."
The complete impacts of current contract line item cuts are still unknown, said Zack Stoycoff, Healthy Minds Policy Initiative's executive director.
"I think the question now is, do state leaders want to fund the Department of Mental Health enough to meet the mental health needs of Oklahoma?" Stoycoff said. "I think it's important to understand it doesn't cost less to provide mental health services in 2025 than it did in 2024. It costs more. That's just the nature of the need that we're seeing across the state."
A Department of Mental Health spokesperson said in an email essential services are still being provided in all 77 counties through Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC) – which all operate a 24/7 crisis line – and the 988 Mental Health Lifeline.
The state's CCBHCs are all listed with contract items labeled as not being renewed.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
