Virginia's Mental Health Circus

"there is a simple answer -- not an easy answer -- but simple"
-- Ronald Reagan, 27 October 1964, "A Time for Choosing" --

"when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"
-- Sherlock Holmes, 1890, "Sign of the Four" --

Somebody has to say this.

Governor Timothy L. Kaine, of the Commonwealth of Virginia, has created a panel to review the recent tragic shootings at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg Virginia. This will include a review of the role of the Virginia public mental health system. Their Web site is at http://www.vtreviewpanel.org/.

Unfortunately, the most difficult job the Governor's panel may face will be dealing with the embedded political inertia and power of Virginia's public mental health system, the forty Community Services Boards, the so-called "experts" in mental health whose cure for every problem is more money.

But money is not the primary problem. In reality, the Virginia community mental health system has two problems -- (1) Mission creep (2) Poor quality control; and unless these two problems are addressed, additional funding to the Virginia community mental health system will be a complete waste of money.

First let's look at "Mission Creep", the idea that the Virginia community mental health system is off creating new tasks for itself, and ignoring its legislatively mandated job.

A primary function of the Community Services Board, job one so to speak, is to be present at judicial mental health hearings. This is a public safety function -- if someone is a danger to the community the mental health "expert" from the community services board is supposed to recognize the symptoms, and make an appropriate recommendation to the presiding judicial officer at that hearing.

But the New River Valley Community Services Board failed to perform this function in the case of Seung-Hui Cho.

Public safety wasn't a high priority for the New River Valley Community Services Board, and I can prove it.