States' funding cuts affect mental health services

In South Carolina, the Greenville News reports that the state is cutting 12% from mental health services there. "To meet budget cuts called for by the state Legislature, 75 beds at psychiatric hospitals and other residential facilities will be eliminated as staff is reduced, said Brenda Hart, deputy director of administrative services. Some 21 jobs will be cut at community mental health centers, 29 contract employees will be laid off and another 111 positions won't be filled, she said."

In Massachusetts, South Coast Today in New Bedford reports that activists are protesting $8 million in cuts to adult day programs for people who are mentally ill. "Treatment does work," Toby Fisher, of the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Massachusetts, told more than 100 people at the foot of the Statehouse's Grand Staircase, just below the House chamber. "To take away these supports is a travesty."