By Paige Rentz
Fayetteville Observer

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Dozens of mental health providers and advocates from the region gathered at Fayetteville Technical Community College Tuesday to talk mental health crises.

At the forum, hosted by 2nd District Rep. Renee Ellmers, participants expressed frustration with mental health bed shortages, patients in crisis being stuck in emergency departments as they wait for treatment, and the need for more mental health providers.

Ellmers, whose district includes parts of Cumberland and Harnett counties, was joined by her colleague, Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., a psychologist who introduced legislation known as The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. The bill is aimed at getting individuals with mental health conditions the care they need and making sure their families are informed about their condition and treatment needs when they have an acute mental health crisis.

"This bill is moving because it's coming from families across America," Murphy told the group Tuesday. He and Ellmers emphasized the bipartisan support the bill has received in the House.

About one-third of the bill's 96 co-sponsors are Democrats. Ellmers, a Harnett County Republican, is the only North Carolina legislator signed on as a co-sponsor. She is currently running for her third term in Congress, against Cary Democrat and well-known entertainer Clay Aiken.

"This is certainty a bipartisan issue," Ellmers said after the roundtable. " This transcends all socioeconomic levels ... each family of North Carolina can be affected by this."

Ellmers said that unfortunately, some of what she heard from individuals who have dealt with suicide and other mental health crises sounded familiar.

"Many of the stories I heard I've heard before in different places from different people," she said. "But at the same time it comes down to the same core issue - that there are families in need and their problems can be resolved if we all just come together and work together."

Breeden Blackwell, the government relations director for Cape Fear Valley Health, emphasized the importance of communication among local agencies, including law enforcement, who deal with mental health patients in crisis.

"It is very close to my heart that we deal with these folks," said Fayetteville Police Chief Harold Medlock.

Medlock said the state of mental health care is a chronic, severe problem across the country that many don't want to deal with or recognize.

"Mental health in this country, unfortunately, across the country, is broken," Ellmers said after the meeting. "And we have got to do a better job as legislators to prevent the hurdles from going forward that are preventing families from getting the needed mental health services."