Tulsa’s city councilors got up close Wednesday with a handful of embattled mental health care providers in the area.
Councilors visited four nonprofits – Family & Children Services, GRAND Mental Health, YES Tulsa and Parkside Psychiatric Hospital – which provide emergency care to those in psychological crises or who are in the depths of substance abuse. Councilors were given tours of the facilities and participated in meetings with clinic administrators and Tulsa first responders.
“We want you all to walk away with a visual of the mental health crisis continuum in Tulsa,” said Rebecca Hubbard, the city’s chief mental health officer.
Councilors did ask about one topic early on: federal and state funding.
Due to President Donald Trump’s slashing of federal dollars and employees, questions remain about the sustainability of local services.
Healthy Minds Policy Initiative Director Zack Stoycoff said there are two main areas of concern.
“The first and primary concern in Medicaid,” he said. “There’s indication that the feds would decrease the match for Medicaid or do some other significant changes to Medicaid, which would put the budget on the state to figure out how to fund those services.”
Medicaid expansion was written into Oklahoma’s constitution.
“That would mean, potentially, a $500-$700 million hit in some other areas of the state budget,” Stoycoff said.
The second area of concern: grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, or SAMHSA, the federal agency tasked with supporting clinics like the ones in Tulsa.
“[SAMHSA] is actually being dissolved,” Stoycoff said. “Most of SAMHSA’s work force, we understand, has been or is in the process of being laid off and there are very serious talks about reducing SAMHSA’s funding to pre-pandemic levels.”
Councilor Phil Lakin said it’s critical that both federal and state dollars support mental health clinics like those in Tulsa.
“We already live hand-to-mouth on a local government level,” Lakin said. “If we don’t have the money coming from state sources and federal sources, then these resources will dry up.”
Krista Lewis, chief program officer of crisis care at Family & Children Services in Tulsa, said her organization has worked to keep funds diversified.
A major hurdle is covering expenses that insurance providers won’t cover or navigating when patients don’t have insurance at all.
“A lot of the individuals that we serve in our organization and through the crisis continuum are either uninsured or are Medicaid recipients.”
Despite the growing uncertainty, efforts have been made in Tulsa to bolster mental health care with other initiatives.
A recent move by city hall placed clinicians alongside local 911 dispatchers to better respond to people who call in a mental health emergency.
