Conflicts of Interest: Washington State's mental health planning and advisory council

Photo Credit: bobverill

HISTORY AND PURPOSE OF PLANNING COUNCILS

These federal laws require states and territories to perform mental health planning in order to receive federal Community Mental Health Services Block Grant funds.

These laws further require that stakeholders, including mental health consumers, their family members, and parents of children with serious emotional or behavioral disturbances must be involved in these planning efforts through membership in the Council. here  

Consumers, family members, parents of children worth serious emotional or behavioral disturbances are supposed to comprise half the membership on planning councils... There are 39 members and the vast majority of them are State employees, some are mental health service providers with a major conflict of interest--they make their living by billing Medicaid for mental health services provided to people on Medicaid.  Eleanor Owen,  represents NAMI Seattle and is a founding member of NAMI Washington. NAMI affiliates throughout Washington receive State, Federal, County and grants as well as being funded and advised by the pharmeceutical industry. 

1. Annabelle Payne Community Member 3/1/2015 Director and County Coordinator at Pend Orrielle County Counseling Services  

2. Armando Herrera Community Member 3/1/2015

3. Becky Bates Community Member 3/1/2014 Director of Passages part of Volunteers of America in Spokane

4. Carolyn Cox Community Member 3/1/2015 The Family Support Coordinator for Three River's Wraparound program with Lutheran Social Services and a contracted provider for Medicaid Mental Health Services for Benton/Franklin Human Services.

5. Carrie Huie-Pascua Community Member 3/1/2014 Was hired by Yakima County as the Director of Yakima Valley Systems of Care a SAMHSA Children's Mental Health Initiative grant project. Her job prior to this was the director of Benton-Franklin Department of Human Services. Immediately after quitting this job, she was appointed to be the consumer advocate representing Yakima County on this planning council. However, prior to her job with Benton/Franklin Human Services, she was Clinical Director at Nueva Esperanza one of the community providers for mental health services that Benton/Franklin Human Services contracts with. This agency had repeated irregularities with annual audits; in fact the agency was found to have committed fraud in the amount of $500,000 in  one 'irregularity.' The thing is, there is no way that Ms. Huie-Pascua could not have known about the 'irregularities' while employed as the Clinical Director at Nueva Esperanza.  The inappropriate billing went on for a while. As the director of Human Services for Benton/Franklin Counties, she was responsible for holding her former employer accountable, or at least stop the payments. If she was unaware, her lack of awareness is a strong indication of her unsuitability for being an administrator of a publicly funded program. Ms. Huie-Pascua, ethically speaking, would not be a desirable employee if she had been aware, yet failed to act; or unaware entirely. Both  scenarios could only be attributed to carelessness and/or negligence. In her role as the Director of Human Services, she recommended renewing Benton/Franklin Department of Human Services contract with Neuva Esperanza.  When she was questioned in regards to her ill-advised  recommendation, she claimed to be unaware of any "red flags" which would have prevented her making the recommendation. I don't find her claim credible at all. I'm still trying to figure out how she quit an administrative job unexpectedly, (just when the fraud $$ bomb was exploding) and within a couple weeks started representing Yakima County on a State committee as a consumer representative.  Within a month she was hired by Yakima  County as the director of the Yakima Valley Systems of Care. It seems orchestrated...

6. Cassie Undlin Community Member 3/1/2014 Chief Financial Officer Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2003 went to work at Tatum LLC in 2008. Hired by Gold Coast April 3, 2012 Ventura County Medi-Cal Managed Care Commission (VCMMCC) dba Gold Coast Health Plan; as of July 23, 2012 still the CEO.

7. Dawn Maloney Community Member 3/1/2015 works at Link, a program of the Toutle River Boys Ranch

8. Dorothy Flaherty Community Member 3/1/2015 Professor At Evergreen State College Social Work Native American Studies

9. Eleanor Owen Community Member 3/1/2014 NAMI Mother  

The picture is from The NAMI National Convention program that took place in Seattle at the end of June.  The reason I'm sharing it because it struck me how much and how little can be conveyed in a few sentences .  It is an announcement that four men have been given  new identities and learned skills which enabled them to do things, "by themselves."  Doing things by themselves doesn't include telling their own stories however...which is strange and disturbing. By the time I read that the audience would get a chance "to dialogue face-to-face" with them, I thought, "not nice at all, they are not an exhibit;" and wondered, "why they weren't important enough to acknowledge their accomplishments using their names?"   

10. Jo Ellen Woodrow Community Member 3/1/2014 Volunteers of America

11. Mary O'Brien Community Member 3/1/2015 Clinical Services manager for Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic Behavioral Health A Medicaid contracted provider

13. Phillip Gonzales Community Member 3/1/2014 (DSHS/JRA) Business Analyst at State of Washington

14. Sandy Gregoire Community Member 3/1/2015 Family Support Specialist at OptumHealth a for profit health entity that has the contract with Pierce County RSN

15. Stokely Leggett Community Member 3/1/2014 Works at Twin River Community Facility (DSHS/JRA)

16. Susan Kydd Community Member 3/1/2015 Boeing Employees Credit Union

17. Glen Ludwig Community Member 3/1/2015  

Evidence for the Neurotoxicity of Antipsychotic Drugs

22 State Employees 

Melodie Pazolt DBHR-MH Treatment
Michael Langer DBHR-Prevention/Promotion
Steve Kutz IPAC Tribal Representative
Cindy Robison IPAC Alternate
Mark Freedman Regional Support Network
Jalane Christian-Stoker ACHS Chair
Vacant Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
Marci Arthur Division of Developmental Disabilities
Bianca Stoner Insurance Commissioner's Office
Barb Putnam Children's Administration
Greg Williamson Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction
Pamala Sacks-Lawlar Division of Juvenile Rehabilitation
Kathy Morgan Division of Home/Community Services
Kathleen Arnold Department of Corrections
Tory Henderson Department of Health
Jeanette Barnes DBHR
Beth Dannhardt CD Residential Services
Tim Smith CD Youth Residential
Heather Maxwell MH Quality Review Team
Anita Gallagher Problem Gambling Provider

Yakima Valley Systems Of Care: Who Is The Care For?

yakimavalleysoc.org logo
This blog is not affiliated with YVSOC

This is from the abstract of Yakima County's Proposal to get the 9 million dollar grant to change the mental health service system for children at risk of out of home placement or hospitalization due to SED.

                                                                   ABSTRACT

The Yakima Valley Youth and Family Coalition will implement a single, integrated system of care to provide comprehensive, community-based mental health services and supports for all Yakima County youth, including the Yakama Nation, with SED and their families. Planning and implementation will be anchored with the Partnerships for Success (PfS) Community Planning Process and wraparound care coordination in accord with National Wraparound Initiative standards.  We will initially prioritize service to youth age 10-21 with SED and involvement in juvenile justice or child welfare systems, youth experiencing co-occurring challenges related to substance use and youth in transition, with specific focus on Native American and Hispanic youth. We anticipate expanding to preschool and school-age children in Years 5 and 6.

This grant was given to the county to change the mental health system.  The effort is to be driven by the community, not the County staff or Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health staff.  We are two years into this effort and the general community has little to no idea.  Thus far, there has been virtually nothing in the local paper.  In two years since receiving the grant, there have been two pieces in the local paper, The Yakima Herald Republic.  Twice in two years, why is it so under wraps?  One of the times it was in the Unleashed section, written by local high school kids.  The kid who wrote the piece is the child of a Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health administrator.

The project Yakima Valley Systems of Care has a Facebook page the following is the last several months of community events listed there:

• Spirit Day
  Wear your Purple EVERYWHERE!!! Show...         
  Wednesday, October 20 at 12:30am
• Journey of Self Discovery
  Rainbow Catheedral MCC
  Saturday, October 9 at 9:00am
• SAVE THE DATE: 1st Annual Co...
  TBA
  Saturday, October 9 at 8:00am
• Gay and Lesbian Youth and The...
  Tom-Tom Espresso
  Saturday, September 18 at 4:00pm
• LGBTQ Friends and Family picni...
  Randall Park
  Friday, July 30 at 5:00pm

There is no problem with having outreach events targeting gay youth.  However, I for one, question why this is the only type of community event that has taken place for months.  Gay youth are a portion of two other target groups this grant is primarily to serve, Hispanic and Native American youth.  In reality, they are only a segment of two larger groups of  the youth and families Systems of Care outreach activities are theoretically needing to reach; but the only group that Yakima County has had events for.

This grant is an opportunity for SED youth and their families, to transform for the better the services which will enable recovery from their difficulties.  It is obvious to me these people are still not effectively sought for their input on implementation of this grant.

It is also obvious to me that the print and television journalists have no interest in reporting violations of the public trust or mismanagement of mental health transformation funds.

The following link to the last article run relating to this grant in the Yakima Herald and the comments on the Yakima Herald in response to the story make it plain that there is a public interest story, and possibly one of fraud and corruption as well.


Yakima Herald Event targets stigmas on sexual orientation, mental illness

(update 3-5-2012) someone visited this page repeatedly yesterday which alerted me to the link to the Yakima Herald being broken; luckily the article and comments are available in the archive.
via KNDU

Journey of Self Discovery Conference in Yakima

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Yakima Valley System of Care and its partners will hold the first annual Journey of Self Discovery Conference on Saturday.

The conference will be an opportunity for adults and youth to learn more about the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender culture.

"Through Saturday's event, we're hoping to offer information and have a community resource available for individuals who are seeking additional information. Whether it be for personal reasons related to their own sexual identity. Or in support of those that they know, so that they can be a better support and ally in our community," said Gretchen Waschke, Project Director for Yakima Valley System of Care.

Several community members will be on hand to answer questions and provide information at the conference, including representatives from the local chapter of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

"Yakima County, as a community, is starting to recognize and realize that we need to have more resources available for all cultures, and all individuals in our community to promote health and wellness," said Waschke.

The Journey of Self Discovery Conference will be held at the Rainbow Cathedral MCC, 225 N. 2nd Street in Yakima. The free event is from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Lunch will be provided. There will also be a dessert social and entertainment from 3 p.m. - 4 p.m. at the church.

For more information on the event and available resources, you can visit the Yakima Valley System of Care's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yakima-WA/Yakima-Valley-System-of-Care/325537028456?ref=ts&v=wall or call (509) 574-2977.

A MadMother...

A few days ago I wrote that I intend to be rid of my anger---perhaps I spoke too soon.   I really want to learn to deal with reality without the spiritually corrosive effects of anger.  Being aware that my anger is in fact very real, based on grievous harm and trauma, the challenge is finding a way to accept what is not acceptable, so I can function without feeling I have given up somehow.  I cannot give up, give in, or allow apathy to creep in.


People who have read my blog thus far already know that I speak my mind.  I have in fact done so as long as I can remember.  This is not always popular to say the least.  Thank God I really do not care about being popular.  And I can tell you with assurance there is no comfort is being right.  Particularly when one is then labeled, and or maligned for having the integrity to voice one's experience.  Ultimately I started this blog because those who had the power to act on my son's behalf, in fact those who had a moral and legal obligation to do so, did not.  I can not make any one do anything, but I will tell our story.


The following is my input to SAMHSA on the need for Alternative treatments in Mental Health Care:


"It is critical to that we have have non-drug alternatives to help those who are experiencing extreme states, who do not wish to be medicated. The influence that the pharmaceutical companies have has decimated the ethical integrity of many professionals in the fields of psychiatry, academia, and government. This has caused massive societal damage by fostering the growth of discrimination and funded the passage of laws that are unconstitutional. This effort to strengthen forced drugging laws was implemented to counter the effect of the growing awareness of the American people about the grave harm that these drugs can and do cause.

My son, who at 7 had an IQ of 146, was medicated without informed consent by the lead researcher in the State of Washington, Jon McClellan, for early onset schizophrenia. The effects are devastating. The iatrogenic illnesses and injuries have disabled my son and 3 of my friends, and millions of people across the globe. First, do no harm--Alternatives are not harmful and work by addressing the root causes and effects of distress."

I have witnessed the victimization of my son and have filed more complaints with authorities that do nothing but abdicate their personal responsibility to perform their legal duty; not only for my son, but for the all the people who they work for.  I can't make anyone do a damn thing.  

I don't care what parasitic public servants think of me. I know that if paid "public servants" are unwilling or unable to do the jobs they are paid with public funds to perform, they need to be fired. If the failure is criminal, prosecution is a duty not be avoided or delayed. 

My son is treated as if he has no rights at all--no patient rights, no civil rights, no human rights. There is nothing right about that at all...