Investigation finds Ky. relies too much on psychiatric hospitals instead of community mental health services

By Nadia Ramiagan
Kentucky News Connection

A U.S. Department of Justice investigation has found Kentucky is failing to provide access to community-based mental health services for people who need them and instead relies too heavily on psychiatric hospitals.

The report says the state is potentially in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA.

Licensed psychologist Sheila Shuster, who is part of the Advocacy Action Network, said years of budget cuts have reduced or eliminated the Louisville’s crisis centers – such as the Living Room, which opened its doors in 2018 and was shut down within a year due to lack of funding.

“Three to four hundred people a month coming in and using the services, and getting referrals,” Shuster said. “And then boom, it’s gone. So, that was May of 2019, and we don’t have anything like it back in place.”

The University of Louisville Hospital provides emergency psychiatric treatment to more than 2,200 adults with serious mental illness each year.

In a separate investigation last year, the Justice Department concluded the city and the Louisville Metro Police Department violated the ADA by subjecting people with mental illness to an unnecessary police response.

While the new report raises awareness about the needs of people living with mental illness, Shuster said it doesn’t capture the full picture.

She cited recent changes the city has made, such as its 911 call diversion program for mental health-related incidents, as well as families’ view of the role of hospitalization.

“By and large, what I hear from the family members is not that their loved ones are being kept too long in the hospital, but that they’re not being kept long enough,” said Shuster, “which I think is what is leading to the revolving door.”

Marcie Timmerman, executive director at Mental Health America of Kentucky, said the focus should be on early intervention and treatment, so folks don’t end up being involved with the police.

“We would love to have more providers available,” said Timmerman. “I’m not sure that pinpointing our psychiatric hospitals is really helpful.”

She added that a mobile crisis response system, and Medicaid-funded housing and support programs, could help reduce the number of people who continue to cycle through hospitalization and the criminal legal system.

Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

https://kyhealthnews.net/2024/09/20/mental-health-services-knc-story/