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PSYCHOTIC, from page 4
Multnomah County, according to multiple
providers interviewed for this story.
Traditional hospitals often discharge
patients who use meth as soon as they’re
stabilized, sending them back out into the
community only to return to an E.R. at a
later date when they have another episode.
Providers and people with mental health
diagnoses told Street Roots that while
mental health facilities point patients with
dual diagnosis to drug treatm ent programs,
alcohol and drug treatm ent facilities point
them toward mental health treatm ent -
both sides of the provider spectrum tell the
patient they’re ill-equipped to treat them
until the other issue is dealt with, leaving
the patient without any treatm ent at all.
This problem was also a key finding of an
independent study of Multnomah County’s
mental health care System released earlier
this year. It revealed a mental health care
network that’s tough to navigate and
challenging to access for those who need it
m ost
County Commissioner Meieran, who
initiated the study, said she knows this is an
issue.
“The issue is so profound,” Meieran said,
“and it intersects with so many different
areas of public safety and housing and
workforce, and all of these different issues.”^
Now that the study has been completed,
she said she’s trying to untangle funding
sources and their requirements so she can
determine if there are more effective ways
to utilize mental health care dollars.
She said the county is still in the “idea
phase,” but in many ways'rsWs■'attempting
I d re-imagine what a mental health care
system that would serve the county’s most
vulnerable would look like.
It might be mental health counselors
placed strategically at places in the
community where people experiencing
homelessness already congregate. It could
be a center where people could hang out,
paint, read and if they want, get a little
mental health counseling.
Angel Prater, executive director at peer-
support provider Folk-Time, Inc., thinks
investing in peer-run respites might be a
solution for some folks dealing with dual
diagnosis, rather than traditional psychiatric
hospitals that have risk factors determining
what policies and procedures are in place.
“They’re done all over the world, but we
don’t have any in Oregon,” she said.
Everyone who works at these facilities has
some level of lived experience, there are
more negotiations than rules, and it’s a
place where people can go “hit their re-set
button” without losing their power, she
said.
A recovered methamphetamine user,
Prater has experienced psychosis while
using the drug, she said. She said that when
a person is experiencing these delusions,
she knows from her own experiences that
being approached by someone who is
willing to listen and validate their
experience is more powerful than someone
who is only interested in telling them what
they need to do.
Ultimately, Multnomah County is
responsible for the solving the problem -
mental health and addictions treatment
services are in its portfolio, but it will likely
need some help from the city to fully
mitigate what’s become a humanitarian
crisis.
But as the county struggles with figuring
out the right way to handle the problem,
resources for new programs just aren’t
there. The county has to make 3 percent
budget cuts across all its departments in the
upcoming budget cycle, Meieran said.
In 2019, however, Multnomah County will
be asking Oregon Legislature to increase
Health Share’s reimbursements to service
providers for drug and alcohoK treatmenfe
While reimbursements to pay for mental
health care are already low - Meieran’s
study also found the mental health care
workforce across the county is
“overburdened and underpaid” -
reimbursements for drug and alcohol
disorder treatments are even lower.
“By bringing those two on par, the hope
and expectation would be maybe you can
better integrate services to treat both of
those conditions,” said Meieran.
em ily@ streetroots.org
T w itter @ greenwrites
ARANO
'A$iAN PACING AMERICAN NETWORK OP OREGON
Executive Director
H e lp us rea lize o u r v is io n o f a ju s t a n d e q u ita b le w o r ld w h e re
A sians and Pacific Isla n d e rs a re fu lly e n ga ge d in th e so cia l,
e c o n o m ic , a n d p o litic a l issues t h a t a ffe c t us.
A p p licatio n s re q u es ted by D e ce m b er 18, 2 0 1 8
w w w .a p a n o .o rg
A V igil o f Remembrance and Solidarity
On the Longest Night of the Year and the
National Homeless Person’s Memorial Day
J o in us as w e ...
♦ G ather to name and rem em ber
the people w h o die d on
Portland I s streets in the last year.
♦ Show support fo r the Foster
Street Shelter and c o m m it to
gy oiMMMriin
Armed Forces
and are experiencing
or at
risk of
becoming
homeless?
co lla b o ra tive care o f o u r
shared space.
♦ C a ll on o u r c iv ic leaders to end
p u n itiv e sweeps and
o ve r-p o licin g .
When: December 21st
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Where: S t Mark’s
Lutheran Church
5415 SB Powell Blvd.
Portland,Or 97206
We will gather at St. Mark’s for
3/4 mile silent procession to the
Foster Street Shelter, where we
will hold the vigil.
♦ C o m m it as a co m m u n ity to
ensuring equitable access to
• bathroom s,
• garbage services,
• safe o ve rn ig h t
cam p in g areas.
Follow this link for updated
information and details on
options for those who are not
comfortable walking.
www.smpdx.org/vigiLhtml.
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Transition
Projects
Please call 855.425.5544
or visit 650 NW Irving Street
Our grow inglist o f sponsors: Southeast Organizing and die Southeast People o f Faith, Right to
Survive, St. Mark*« Lutheran Church, and Operation Nightwateh.
For more information contact Katy Rustvold (katywstvoidig;tw c com) or Bonnie Beadles-
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