Access for All to Mental Health Care

CMH Agency

The summary that prepares the author of this report for this assignment lays forth some basic facts and facets of society in the United States as well as other countries. Mental health is an issue that has persisted and lasted throughout the years. The methods of handling and housing such people has improved greatly over time but many shortfalls and issues remain. As part of this general set of facts, the author has been asked to state why it is important to have community mental health (CMH) resources available for those that want or need them. While some people may think that such agencies are money pits and do not do any good, allowing people that want treatment but cannot afford or get to it to go unhelp is inhumane and utterly cruel.

Analysis

One of the nagging and problematic part of mental illness and those that suffer from it is that there are some definitive limitations on just how much someone can be helped. Sure, there are provisions in the law and such that permit a person to be housed in a mental facility, community or not, against their will if they are a danger to themselves or others. However, proving such danger and/or dealing with people that do not fall under that classification is a delicate manner. Indeed, there are people that live on the streets that utterly refused to be herded into a homeless shelter, let alone be treated for the addiction and/or mental health issues that are quite likely present and thus are at least aggravating factors (if not the main problem) when it comes to them being homeless (Shapiro, 2012).

Homeless or not, there are a lot of people in this country that suffer greatly from one or more forms of mental illness. Many of those people use alcohol or other means to "self-medicate." Of course, that just makes a bad situation worse. However, another major stumbling block is that psychiatric healthcare and therapy/psychologist work is not cheap and there are many people in or around poverty that do not have health insurance and/or they are not able to afford the care they need. Since many to most healthcare outfits are structured as for-profit endeavors, this can lead to people who absolutely need help to be turned away. This is where community mental health resources come in. Generally speaking, anyone that needs mental health care and cannot afford it should be afforded the opportunity get the help they need and reclaim (or first realize) the potential that is within them. The agency serves the community in that the people that are treated or otherwise assisted typically go on to live better and healthier lives. This is a boon to things like economic productivity, less reliance on public assistance and better outcomes for any children of the people that are mentally ill or otherwise affected like spouses, other family members or even friends (Kentucky Together, 2016).

Gaining and maintaining funding for such endeavors is tricky and there are so many wasted opportunities. While the asylums referenced in the assignment summary are thankfully a product of yesteryear at this point, the amount of people in jail or prison right now that are mentally ill and/or on drugs is staggeringly high. As noted with the homeless example, people that do not want help or that shoo it away are not going to get better. Again, unless there is real danger to the person personally or someone else, they cannot be housed against their will, generally. Of course, committing a crime will get one thrown in jail and this leads to the epidemic just mentioned (Kentucky Together, 2016).