Some mental health grants, contracts to be eliminated

TOPEKA — A top official from the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services has told mental health advocates that the agency plans to eliminate several grants and contracts effective July 1 as part of an ongoing cost-cutting initiative.

Rick Shults, SRS’ director of mental health services, provided a list of the targeted services to members of the Kansas Mental Health Coalition last week.

"All of us are very concerned," said Amy Campbell, the coalition’s executive director. "We all knew something like this was coming and that this list is just a piece of the bigger picture. But it’s a picture that, at this point, none of us can see. We don’t know where SRS is taking us."

None of the individual grantees or contractors on the list have been notified in writing of the planned funding cuts, she said.

Eliminating the grants and contracts is expected reduce the department’s draw on the State General Fund by almost $940,000; $1.3 million all funds.

Last month, Gary Haulmark, director of legislative affairs at SRS, said the department needed to cut almost $40 million from its all-funds budget.

SRS officials did not respond to a KHI News Service email seeking comment Monday on the department’s decision to sever the grants and contracts or on other cuts recently described by SRS officials to various social service providers.

Campbell said mental health advocates also have been told that SRS officials have backed away – at least temporarily – from a plan they described last week to cut some Medicaid reimbursements by 2.5 percent.

A separate plan for cutting all SRS contracts and grants – not just those affecting mental health services – by 3 percent apparently remains in place.

Among the contracts and grants included on the list for elimination:

An $81,000 grant that community mental health centers use to underwrite the costs of hosting psychiatrists in training.
A $100,000 family preservation grant that United Methodist Youthville uses to provide in-home therapies for children with severe behavior disorders.
A $25,000 Crisis Intervention Training grant used to school law enforcement officers how to best respond to calls involving the mentally ill.
A $290,500 grant that the statewide Consumer Advisory Council used to support a network of 23 street-level programs, called “consumer run organizations,” that encouraged the mentally ill to advocate of their own behalf.

"Every year, the Consumer Advisory Council puts on a recovery conference and a leadership academy," said Rick Cagan, executive director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Kansas. "They’re both very big within the mental health community. They’re also very effective. Both will be sorely missed."

Some mental health grants, contracts to be eliminated

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