Mental health service providers are continuing to sound the alarm about budget cuts and their impact on services across Oklahoma.
Close to 30 people showed up to advocate for increased funding for mental health services at the Oklahoma Capitol building Tuesday evening. Senate and House Democrats hosted community members to discuss the state budget in advance of the next legislative session.
Many of the people who chose to speak shared personal stories about struggling with mental health. Antonio Garringer, who said he owes much of his success to Thunderbird Clubhouse in Norman, told the room about his struggle with social isolation. He said he has cerebral palsy and other diagnoses, like anxiety and depression, that made finding a community and proper treatment difficult.
"Even though I've only been a member for a very short time, I already feel a deep connection to many of the people there, and it has expanded my life so much," Garringer said. "I would really urge that legislators reconsider the cuts to mental health and the Clubhouse, and to think about how that adversely affects so many people."
Linn Blohm, the Executive Director of Thunderbird, said her nonprofit wasn't spared from the significant budget cuts by the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) that went into effect at the start of this month.
"So many of us say we value community and family, but then we don't provide the tools for people to live lives with dignity," Garringer said.
Other providers that experienced budget reductions and cuts also spoke out. Staff members from OCARTA, a social services nonprofit that connects people in recovery to peer support specialists, helped fill out the room.
"Our doors are closing because we're considered 'nonessential' or 'redundant,' said OCARTA Executive Director Brani Vore.
"To be fair, ODMHSAS is carrying the weight of a statewide crisis, and the cost of that underinvestment doesn't disappear, it only shifts," she said. "Every dollar we don't invest in people, we end up paying for somewhere else. In jails and hospitals, and too often, especially in our peer work for addiction mostly, but also in mental health, in funerals."
Cuts from the Department of Mental Health come as the agency tries to correct years of financial mismanagement. It has maintained that decisions are being made with "essential services that align with the agency's core mission and fiscal sustainability" in mind.
"ODMHSAS has been operating with more contracts than our budget can sustain," Interim Commissioner Slavonic said after details about the cuts were leaked. "These were very difficult decisions, but we cannot spend more than we have."
Others spoke on behalf of their children and their struggles to get them access to care. They asked the Democratic lawmakers in the room to "reach across the aisle" to their Republican counterparts and advocate for increased mental health funding.
Ashley Gay, a program manager at Heather's Hope Housing, which offers transitional housing for women in Comanche, said she was able to rebuild her life with support.
"We need more programs like this and we need to fund them," Gay told legislators. "I've seen what happens when people are given the tools to heal. I've also seen what happens when there's more addiction, incarceration, homelessness, suicide. These are preventable outcomes, but only if we invest in prevention."
Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, hosted the event. After the almost two hours of public comment came to an end, said she was grateful so many people showed up to voice their concerns. Kirt said she reached out to mental health providers in advance, but was glad clients came to share their experiences, too.
"I think people are clear that their programming, the things that keep them going and the things that they do to serve the community is not seen and understood for its value," she said. "And so I was glad to hear those stories directly."
She said after listening to constituents speak, she's concerned the Department of Mental Health is cutting essential services, as well as services it's contractually obligated to fund.
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.
