Lynn Rep. Walsh files bill to shield mentally ill

LYNN – State Rep. Steven Walsh hopes to ease widespread disruptions local mental health advocates claim state spending cuts could have on their clients? lives.The West Lynn legislator filed a proposal dictating that “no client of the Department of Mental Health shall be required to move from the city or town where said client resided on March 1, 2009 unless the client provides written consent to the relocation.”Walsh drafted the legislative amendment in response to concerns voiced by Bridgewell officials about state Department of Mental Health (DMH) spending cuts leading to disruptions in local housing arrangements for Bridgewell?s mentally disabled clients.Formerly known as Greater Lynn Mental Health and Retardation, Bridgewell cares for mentally disabled individuals in the Lynn area, many of whom live in group homes with some degree of supervision.Walsh?s amendment also requires DMH to file with the Legislature by September a report listing the numbers of clients who have been moved to a different community once DMH implements reorganizational plans aimed at dealing with spending cuts.The report would also list the number of mental health clients requiring hospitalization following any relocation.Gov. Deval Patrick cut the Department of Mental Health?s budget by $33 million this year as he sought to close a mid-year deficit estimated at $2.5 billion but likely growing. Patrick has said he regrets having to cut services and that he sought to spread the pain across all areas of the budget.The cuts came as a national mental health advocacy organization gave the state?s mental health system relatively high marks.Recent laws to improve children?s mental health and extend health coverage to a range of mental health disorders earned Massachusetts a B grade from the National Association on Mental Illness. But the group faulted Massachusetts for an “all-time high” prison population in which prisoners “commit suicide at crisis levels.”Overall, states averaged a D in the NAMI report, and six states – Mississippi, Arkansas, South Dakota, West Virginia, Kentucky and Wyoming n received a flat F grade. Massachusetts is one of 16 states whose grade improved from a 2006 report card that ranked states based on their implementation of the recommendations of a presidential commission on mental health care. In the earlier report, Massachusetts received a C-.The state?s Department of Mental Health offers services to about 22,000 patients, a figure Martinelli said represents only a fraction of state residents who need services.NAMI also noted that the B ranking – tied with Connecticut, Maine, New York, Maryland and Oklahoma – does not account for recent budget cuts to mental health programs that have led to a wave of protests from advocates who say the state is retreating from its strong commitment to helping the mentally ill.