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Director's Message
October 15, 2004
To: DHS Employees
From: Gary Weeks, Director
Impact of Mental Illness
A common myth is that mental illness is someone else's problem; it doesn't affect you and me. Consider the following:
- Mental illness is the leading cause of disability in the United States, with huge costs to individuals, families, and society.
- One in five Oregonians - including family members, friends, and employers - are affected each year by some form of mental disorder including schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer's disease, and children's related disorders.
- No school, community, or workplace is untouched from dealing with some form of mental illness.
In Oregon, mental health problems impact nearly every aspect of state government services, including corrections, juvenile justice, child welfare, health care, housing and education. Nearly 20 percent of adults who are incarcerated have a mental health problem. About 60 percent of children in Oregon Youth Authority (OYA) institutions have some kind of emotional disturbance. And mental health problems are the third most-common cause in child welfare interventions.
Here at DHS, we are already operating many successful programs and services with our community partners, and through the state hospital system, to help treat and prevent mental illness. In recent years, Oregon's mental health policy has moved away from reliance on institutions and toward integrated community-based care.
Yet some 250,000 adults and children in Oregon experience some form of mental illness annually and many still don't get the treatment and support they need to live fully productive lives.
Findings of the Governor's Task Force
The Governor's Mental Health Task Force recently looked at how we can continue to improve the mental health system, within current and future economic constraints.
The task force made 50 recommendations -- including improvements that don't require more money. These include: buying prescription drugs in bulk, linking local mental health agencies with local law enforcement, and getting leaders of different agencies with the same clients to talk to each other.
The DHS Office of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OMHAS), working with community mental health partners, will now work to implement key recommendations. By June 2005, the number of available slots in community treatment facilities is expected to be 767 - a 32 percent increase -- and a much less costly alternative to state hospital care.
More work is being done as well to focus on children's mental health issues. Key mental health experts, community leaders, parents and others will be participating in a children's mental health conference sponsored by DHS at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Oct. 19 - 20. The conference will explore better ways to allow children with mental illness to live at home and be successful in school and their communities.
Our collective efforts can make a real impact in people's lives. Take the case of one rural Oregon man with serious mental illness. Help and support from vocational rehabilitation and community mental health organizations made his dream of being employed a reality. Today he works at a local store and hopes to one day become a salesman.
We should all be raising our awareness of mental illness and its impacts, since the issue touches, in some way, much of the work we all do. We should be giving mental disorders the same sort of regular attention, focus, and follow-up that physical disorders receive.
Without effective services and programs to prevent and treat mental illness, the costs to all of us are incalculable.
Election Respect
What we are currently observing may be the most bitterly contested presidential election in our lifetime. But DHS employees can be role models by remembering not only that people have a right to their views - but they also have different backgrounds, experiences, and circumstances that can cause them to see the same candidates and issues very differently.
DHS has specific policies regarding political activity and what is appropriate in your role as a public servant. You can find this information on the DHS Web site.
Food for thought
" A house divided against itself cannot stand."
Abraham Lincoln, (1809-1865) 16th President of the United States
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This message is intended for all Department employees. Please read it electronically, if possible. Managers and supervisors are asked to share the message each week with employees who do not have email access.
If you have a disability and need a document on this Web site to be provided to you in another format, please send an email to dhs.forms@state.or.us or call (503) 945-7021, fax (503) 373-7690 or TTY (503) 947-5080. If you know of others who need this accommodation, please let them know it is available.
Oregon Department of Human Services
Director's Office
500 Summer St. NE E15, Salem, OR 97301-1097
Phone: (503) 945-5944
Fax: (503) 378-2897
TTY: (503) 947-6214
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