May 25th, 2011

Chicago, Illinois

On Saturday the 21st of May, 2011 the world was supposed to come to an end.  It did not.  My question: was that a bad thing?  Would it have been better if, as the now twice wrong Prophet Harold Camping predicted, the world had ended.

In the world of public behavioral health, the answer is perhaps. Since the crash of the United States economy in 2008, funding for public behavioral health has been on the chopping block.  It’s not the “end of world in one fell swoop.”  Rather, its more like slowly having the life strangled out of you.  And unlike teachers and prison guards, public behavioral health doesn’t have a strong and vocal lobby.

“It’s sad,” says the director of one agency in the midwest, “I come to work every day feeling weighed down.  We are going to experience very close to another one mission dollar cut, that is, on topic of the same cut last year.”

Agencies are doing everything they can to continue to provide effective treatment in the current environment.  Here’s what the staff and management in Marion-Crawford county, Ohio have done:

As Bob and Shirley make clear, routinely monitoring outcome and alliance and using the information to inform service delivery is a key to survival in these challenging economic times.

At ICCE, we are working with hundreds of agencies around the US and abroad to improve quality, effectiveness, and efficiency.  Soon, we’ll be gathering in Chicago for our annual “Training of Trainers” event.  The hands-on, intensive training is the first step to acquiring the skills necessary for navigatng the troubled waters ahead.  Here’s what attendee’s from last year said about the event:

Read more about the event or register online by clicking here.