Recovery Learning Communities fear proposed budgets cuts could close mental health resource centers
Advocates for adult mental health resource centers, funded by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health through an umbrella program, are asking supporters to contact legislators to prevent the program’s budget from being slashed in half in Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year. The budget is currently before the House Ways & Means Committee, and supporters say its proposals might force the closure of resource centers created through Recovery Learning Communities.
Currently six Recovery Learning Communities share a budget of $3.4 million. The program’s funding dates to 2007, and the communities’ centers are described as offering peer-to-peer support for individuals who have had a psychiatric diagnosis or have experienced addiction or a trauma and need to access resources. The communities’ centers are designed to give immediate assistance…
Recovery Learning Communities head to State House to protest proposed budget cut
Supporters of the Recovery Learning Community are in Boston today to rally and advocate at the State House against a proposed 50 percent cut to the community’s $3.4 million budget. It has been funded since 2007, through the Department of Mental Health, and the reduction is part of Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed state budgetfor the new fiscal year.
There are six Recovery Learning Communities in the state, and they were created by the DMH to offer peer-to-peer support to individuals who have experienced a psychiatric illness, substance abuse problem or a related challenge. Each RLC operates through its own area partners to offer a variety of resources.
Advocates say their value is in the fact they offer immediate assistance without the need for a referral or intake process.
Baker’s proposed budget is said to increase, by 1.7 percent, funding for the DMH whose budget would be $12.4 million. The proposed budget is also said to include $17. 8 million, an increase of 5.1 percent, in funding to adult mental health and support services. This amount includes……
Advocates for Western Mass. mental health program protest proposed budget cuts
BOSTON – The head of a network of peer-supported mental health centers in Western Massachusetts is warning that some of the centers are at risk of closing due to a budget cut proposed by Gov. Charlie Baker.
“If we got cut by 50 percent, we’d have to close centers,” said Sera Davidow, director of the Western Massachusetts Recovery Learning Community. “We’re really not sure how we’d survive it.”
Advocates for Recovery Learning Communities around the state rallied at the Statehouse on Wednesday against a provision in Baker’s proposed fiscal year 2016 budget that would cut $1.7 million, or half of the total state funding………
Supporting local mothers with substance abuse issues
Here is a great article from the Recorder by writer Kathleen McKiernan about the work we do at The Recover Project.
GREENFIELD — In the first half of 2014, some 7 percent of patients at The Birthplace at Baystate Franklin Medical Center were affected by substance abuse during their pregnancies — a 2 percent increase from 2013, according to Assistant Nurse Manager Linda Jablonski.
In 2013, of the 460 babies delivered on the maternity ward, 22 required close observation for possible drug exposure in the womb and seven needed treatment in the form of morphine to ease withdrawal, according to Jablonski.
Substance abuse is a problem affecting many in Franklin County — including its new mothers. Continue Reading Article at The Recorder