TRENTON — The controversial and closely-watched mental health program that gives judges authority to order severely ill people into outpatient treatment will have the money to expand, after all.
Gov. Chris Christie's proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning in July contains no new money for the involuntary outpatient commitment program, which began in five counties last year and will launch in a sixth in the spring. The omission disappointed mental health advocates who say the law could reach the several hundred people a year who are stable enough to leave a psychiatric hospital but could still pose a danger in the "foreseeable future" to themselves or others if they don't go to therapy.
If a patient doesn't comply, a judge can order an evaluation to determine whether the patient needs to be committed to a hospital.
At a meeting Thursday of the Mental Health Planning Council, Assistant Human Services Commissioner Lynn Kovich announced $2.4 million of unspent money within the Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services' current budget will be dedicated to the program’s expansion, state spokeswoman Nicole Brossoie confirmed today.
"Normally, this would be returned to the general fund, but it is being carried forward to FY'14 for utilization in the IOC (involuntary outpatient commitment) program if needed," according to an email from Brossoie.
The program is operating in Burlington, Essex, Hudson, Union and Warren counties, and will begin in Ocean County soon. The department has distributed $2 million to mental health agencies that arrange housing and treatment and closely supervise patients.
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The news came as relief to a Bergen County woman who was keeping tabs on the program’s expansion because she thinks it may it help her 35-year-old son with bipolar disorder. She declined to identify herself to protect her son’s privacy.
He has been hospitalized 10 times, she said. “Every time he comes home he’s OK for “a month, two months, six months, then he stops functioning. He lies on the couch all day, then he gets angry, and he looks to drink,” she said. His anger stems from his frustration; before his illness took a serious toll, he was close to graduating college with a 3.5 grade point average, she said.
Phillip Lubitz of the New Jersey chapter of National Alliance on Mental Illness praised the department’s decision. “We’re talking about providing services to individuals everyone acknowledges are the most disabled as a result of a mental illness,” Lubitz said.
“We'll have to keep pushing to make sure the funding materializes,” he added.
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