(Joy D. Calloway, president and CEO of Detroit-based New Center Community Services. – Eric Hobson photo)
Amidst cuts, local advocate Joy Calloway wants to prevent health tsunami.
With the state is moving to cut mental health dollars, advocates are worried that the devastating impact could have severe effect in Detroit. And the battle for mental health in the metro area could not be more timely, especially given that May is Mental Health Month, when local and national attention is focused on the mentally ill and how they should be cared for by providers.
That is why Joy D. Calloway, president and CEO of Detroit-based New Center Community Services, is on a mission to stand up for mental health and how it impacts people’s lives, families and the greater community. While the month is created to bring public awareness concerning the importance of mental health, Calloway’s job is much more complex as she advocates for issues impacting mental health every day, all year long.
Under the auspices of New Center Community Services, Calloway provides leadership to an array of comprehensive programs and services for adults that include intensive day treatment programs, medication clinics, outpatient services, partial hospitalization programs, permanent supportive housing, residential/case management, stabilization and recovery-unit supported employment programs, a training center and learning labs.
Rendered programs and services are created to help individuals function at their top potential, while curtailing recurring crises and psychiatric hospitalizations.
In addition, the organization offers services for children and adolescents, including individual counseling, medication management, nursing services, parenting support, psychiatric evaluation, psychological testing and evaluation.
“Our primary consumer is someone who is dealing with severe mental illness,” said Calloway from the organization’s main office on West Grand Blvd. at Dexter. “We are working with individuals who have chronic mental illnesses, such as bipolar, dissociative identity disorder, schizophrenia, or neurosis. We have a wide range of programs and services so that wherever continuum our consumer is on, we can assist them.”
New Center Community Services celebrated its 35th anniversary last January. The private, nonprofit organization operates six locations in Detroit and Highland Park. With an interdisciplinary staff, including psychiatrists, social workers, nurses, psychologists, certified peer support specialists and educators, mental health services are rendered to about 5,000 consumers each year.
While there are numerous challenges facing mental illness in general, Calloway identified a few of the major ones.
“We are fighting against the stigma of mental illness because society has put a seal of shame on it,” said Calloway. “We don’t judge someone for having hypertension or high cholesterol, but we do, however, judge people with mental illnesses. It becomes a real challenge because people don’t want to admit that they are having mental or emotional challenges. So they don’t go get the help they need because they feel they will be shunned and stigmatized.”
Calloway is also concerned about the State of Michigan cutting funds for mental health programs in the region, especially in Detroit. While the newly-created Healthy Michigan Plans will greatly serve many, Calloway believes that a huge safety net will disappear and leave many uninsured people behind.
“On May 16, if someone comes to my door that’s uninsured and not eligible for an entitlement program, I have to make a business decision whether I take care of this person on my dime and figure out how to pay for it or do I turn this person away?” Calloway said. “And that’s daunting.”
Calloway also is greatly concerned by major system changes that providers in the community are facing based on the transformation of the Detroit-Wayne Community Mental Health Agency (DWMHA), which was once part of Wayne County but now operates as a separate, non-governmental authority. She points out that with a different board, staff and new executive team, the authority, which is the funding and administrative arm for such Carelink providers as New Center Community Services and others, will be severely impacted as to how mental health is regulated and facilitated.
“The new group of executives with the authority are looking at some of the challenges they see in our current system of care,” Calloway said. “They have proposed changes to the system of care, many of which we, the provider community, agree with. However, there are some that we do not agree with and have a concern with because such changes would be detrimental to our consumer base.”
Calloway is cautiously optimistic that the authority staff has heard the provider community’s strong voice that core clinical services that providers offer to consumers should remain with providers, versus with Managers of Comprehensive Provider Networks (MCPNs).
“We are ready to come to the table and explain why our current system works well,” Calloway said. “We need to have open, candid and authentic exchange of ideas and information between the authority staff and provider groups so that we can get where we all want to ultimately go. Change is not necessarily a bad thing; it can be a good thing if it’s managed properly.”
A crucial meeting is set for Wednesday, May 21 (1 to to 3 p.m.) at Detroit-Wayne Mental Health Authority, located at 640 Temple St. At this meeting, the authority board will vote on its staff’s recommendation of the new system of care and how it should look.
The vote will impact New Center Community Services and dozens more similar organizations as to how mental health with be approached and facilitated in Detroit and throughout Wayne County.
“I am hopeful that the new authority will put consumers first and consider keeping core components of such services as case management, psychiatry, nursing and peer support on the provider level instead of on MCPN,” said Kathleen Brazzle, M.D., medical director for New Center Community Services. Calloway agreed: “The system of care that we currently have works well. We are hopeful that what is presented on May 21 makes sense for the community, our consumer base and all providers.”
The public is invited to attend the May 21st meeting.