Monday, May 12, 2008

last updated: November 18, 2007 02:08:10 AM

The Bee posed questions to Denise Hunt, director of Stanislaus County's Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, formerly known as the mental health department.

Q: Briefly explain the department and why the name was changed.

A: Every county has public mental health and alcohol and other drug services, funded through the state. Behavioral Health and Recovery Services is the Stanislaus County department that provides these services.

In 2000, the department changed its name to Behavioral Health and Recovery Services to reflect the fact that many clients have both mental health and alcohol and drug service needs and to underscore the philosophy that individuals can and do recover from mental illness as well as from alcohol and drug problems.

Q: Who are your clients?

A: We serve Medi-Cal beneficiaries who need specialized mental health services; individuals with a serious mental illness or emotional disturbance; people in crisis; and people with alcohol and drug problems. We include family members in treatment as well. It is estimated that approximately 35,000 people in Stanislaus County have a serious mental illness or emotional disturbance. We served about

10,000 individuals last year.

We served about 3,188 people with alcohol and other drug problems, although the estimate of that population is much higher. The need for behavioral health service has always outstripped available resources.

Q: Who pays for all these services? Is the county required by law to do all of these things?

A: As in every county, most of the funding for Behavioral Health comes directly from the state and federal governments, with a very small county contribution. Revenue also includes a small amount of client fees.

Stanislaus County is required by state law to ensure that residents can access certain types of psychiatric care. We are required to provide specialty mental health services for Medi-Cal beneficiaries, mental health crisis and hospitalization services to individuals without health insurance, and to make psychiatric crisis services available to any county resident. In addition, to the extent resources are available, we provide other mental health services to residents.

Alcohol and drug funding is dedicated to prevention programs for youth and treatment services for adults. Some counties provide behavioral health services directly, while in other counties services are provided through contracts. Stanislaus has a mix of county-run programs and contracted programs.

Q: When we ran a list of the 100 county employees who make the most money, there were a number of psychiatrists listed making more than $200,000 a year. Does the county really have to pay that much to find and retain psychiatrists?

A: We cannot operate without psychiatrists, and one of our biggest challenges is recruiting them. We compete for a small number of doctors in this medical specialty willing to live and work in the Central Valley and to provide services to individuals with little or no income.

Because it is so difficult to recruit psychiatrists, the state of California recently raised the salaries for a newly employed psychiatrist, just out of school, who works at a state hospital or state prison to approximately $250,000 a year. Nearly every county in California has openings for psychiatrists. It is not anticipated that salaries for psychiatrists will decrease, and we expect to continue to have vacancies.

Q: The county has just sold the former Modesto Psychiatric Hospital, now known as the Behavioral Health Center. Will the county still be able to help people who are suicidal or otherwise in need of hospitalization for mental illness?

A: The sale of Stanislaus Behavioral Health Center to Doctors Medical Center should have little or no effect on people being able to access psychiatric hospitalization services. The county will continue to provide crisis intervention. The sale was designed to keep the hospital open and available to Stanislaus County residents.

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