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About a year ago the governor created the Mental Health and Wellness
Commission
in order to address the needs and to
improve the quality of life and opportunities for self-determination
of people with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities and substance
use disorders
and the work of the Commissioner, the scope of the Commission
is very very broad. It goes beyond just how to deliver services to people
and what services do we deliver to people but also how to our general
government services like
education and law enforcement work for people
that have different neurological make-ups, and so as we try to
establish the roadmap for the future and how we
better accommodate success and Independence for these folks,
the commission itself was formed in order to develop that road map for
that long term strategic plan.
Every single citizen in our state has something to contribute to society.
Every single person has value that they can add to their community,
and if we provide the right type of support
particularly early in life but also as somebody
moves from childhood into adulthood and
hopefully independence, that they
really can be a positive and important part
of Michigan's future. Stigma among people with mental illnesses-
that's a big problem that we have to really focus in the specific initiatives
and the reason it is a problem is because it's
sometimes people are embarrassed to even seek the type of help that they need
in order to achieve the best results, the best
outcomes for their life. If we're committed to finding
solutions to stigma, starting early in life, hopefully, but
then also
supporting efforts and workplaces and giving opportunity to people that
otherwise haven't seen it, I think you'll see
independence improve. You'll see people that will start taking chances
and steps
toward a more full self-determined
life. Integrating the the behavior health and the physical health
systems and access to care
in our state will make a really big difference in the quality of
life
that are in the outcomes of our health care system in the first place.
Ultimately, what we're trying to achieve here is
a health care system that recognizes that the brain is part of the body
and what's happening with the brain is affecting the rest of the body and
what's happening with the rest the body is affecting the brain,
and when we put these things together, when we remove obstacles
to providing a health care system that is
that is truly integrated, in this fashion,
we'll make big progress in the overall quality of life for
our citizens. When you have a child that is maybe in special education
in a school system but also receiving critical care outside of the school
and is maybe in a foster care home
or somebody that's helped by certain programs in the department of
community health- there's so many different
possibilities here. We need to make sure that everybody is on the same page, that
the expectations that the tools in the tool kit
that they're all working together in the best interest
of our children and this is an area where we have so much promise and so
much
opportunity, so much hope for the future, when you address problems
and you do it right
in the beginning, it really will pay dividends
long into the future, when it comes to reliant on the government but more
importantly, that the quality of life for that individual and their family. The
state of Michigan itself provides
some services to people,
to veterans, but so much what we do is in partnership with the federal
government.
It's going to be a really heavy left but it is incumbent upon us to make sure
that, whether it's things done by the federal government or things
done by the state,
that for our population here in Michigan that
we have to get it right and we have to make sure that we have expectations that
the promises that the federal government made to
our soldiers and the responsibilities that we have our
are met in the most effective way possible.
So much done. They've given so much and they have so much to offer.
Over the course of the next year,
we will be at implementation phase. So we have put together the report with
very specific recommendation,
action items that we can take in order to make the whole system
work better for for our citizens.
It's gonna require in some cases resource considerations
and we will need to make some changes in statute in order to accomodate this,
but in a lot of cases we need a concerted effort by all these different agencies
and private sector partners to work together for the best possible outcome
and that means
coordinated care, that means knowing what each other are doing and making sure
that we're reinforcing
and supporting the quality of life of the individual
but also their independence and their ability
to self-determine where they want to take their life.
If we make all of this happen, if we go through and
follow this road map, we will improve the lives of
thousands and thousands of families across Michigan,
and our whole state will be better for it.