Mental Healthcare providers say New Hampshire is failing to meet critical targets in the 10-year improvement plan.
They say most signs point to a crumbling infrastructure.
Since 2008, when the 10-year plan was adopted, mental health services have slipped....and then some.
At least that’s how the state’s 10 community mental health centers put it in a recent update they've published on the plan.
Roland Lamy, with the New Hampshire Community Behavioral Health Association, says housing support is harder to come by and the wait to get into New Hampshire Hospital is longer.
“We wouldn’t talk about reducing beds for people who need open heart surgery, we certainly wouldn’t talk about turning away people who need care for diabetes.”
As a result, Lamy says social costs continue to mount.
Lamy says policymakers must understand that they have a responsibility to people with mental illness.