An Oklahoma nonprofit offering mental health services in communities across the state is firing back at Gov. Kevin Stitt’s claim that leaders of such organizations make too much money.
During a Wednesday news conference, Stitt specifically pointed to the CEO of GRAND Mental Health, who made nearly $1.4 million in 2023, according to ProPublica’s nonprofit explorer.
Stitt made his remarks in defense of Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Director Allie Friesen, who’s been tasked with finding ways to narrow a reported $43 million budget shortfall in the department.
“As soon as you start holding people accountable, you start asking questions, you start looking at things, people start spinning. They start calling the media. They start saying people are going to die. They start calling their legislator. They start going crazy,” Stitt said of criticism ODMHSAS has faced this week.
In a prepared statement sent to KWGS Thursday, GRAND called the governor’s remarks about their CEO “surprising” considering their “ongoing relationship with his office and his previous recognition” of the organization’s work.
The nonprofit also said they significantly reduced leadership salaries in 2024 – they said the CEO’s salary is currently $850,000.
“We are aligned with the governor in continuing our search for organizational inefficiencies," the statement reads.
At the news conference, Stitt claimed “nothing’s been cut” from OMDHSAS expenses. He instead claimed Friesen has “put people on notice for discretionary bonuses.”
Governor’s spokesperson Abegail Cave said Stitt was referring to value-based payments given to outfits with positive patient outcomes: the better the outcome, the higher the reimbursement for service.
On Wednesday, the state said funds for nonprofits like GRAND will be frozen until ODMHSAS is given “more insight” into the financial standings of such clinics.
The state freeze comes at a time when President Donald Trump has said his administration will not slash public health care benefits to fund tax cuts, instead focusing on eliminating "waste and fraud."
‘I would hope they would make some calls’
ODMHSAS scrutiny was felt in Green Country last month when the agency sent a letter outlining a $895,000 cut to Community Outreach Psychiatric Emergency Services (COPES) and a $1,682,300 cut to CrisisCare Center in Tulsa.
COPES workers partner with first responders to provide immediate services to people in mental health crisis, while CrisisCare serves as an alternative to jail or hospitalization.
The March 18 letter said the contracts “may be terminated without cause” with 30 days’ written notice.
Friesen said the cuts came after people in her department identified duplicative services.
“Multiple funding sources already support crisis services in the Tulsa region, including the 988 Mental Health Lifeline and mobile crisis teams,” Friesen said.
Tulsa currently has three alternative response models involving mental health specialists from COPES and at least one first responder.
Officials said in January that the city was working toward a fourth option that only sends the mental health workers to certain calls. COPES Vice President Amanda Bradley said in January that this response would be the first of its kind in Oklahoma.
Tulsa City Councilor Lori Decter Wright said all of these are at risk of folding with the state’s cut to COPES.
“We have worked diligently over the last 10 years to really build out mental health response for people in crisis that, you know, is not just the police showing up, but a coordinated response, the right response at the right time with the right people,” Decter Wright said. “So if we lose these contracts, it’s really going to set us back.”
If the cuts go through, people who call 911 in mental distress won’t get alternative response, Decter Wright said.
“I wouldn’t expect a statewide agency to know specifically what every jurisdiction is doing. I would hope they would make some calls and say, ‘Hey, if we make this cut, what is the cascade of consequences?’” she said.
Officials have until April 17 to find a funding source for these programs.
At the news conference, Stitt said he would support dipping into the state’s rainy-day fund of more than $4 billion if state programs needed supplemental funding.
