Psycamore chief puts up $75K to fight stigma of mental illness

Dec. 05--OCEAN SPRINGS -- After a battle Sudhakar Madakasira said was rooted in ignorance about mental illness, the president of Psycamore psychiatric clinic said he plans to use a portion of a cash settlement with Ocean Springs to launch a foundation dedicated to eliminating the stigma of psychiatric disorders.

Madakasira announced Thursday the formation of the Mississippi Foundation of Education on Mental Illness and Combating Stigma. He said he will use $75,000 of the $437,500 settlement, adding the group will be a coalition of nonprofit organizations, mental-health providers and other interested parties.

"The mentally ill have been stigmatized and marginalized and they cannot defend themselves because of their condition," he said. "These are my patients, I feel their cause."

In 2011, Madakasira had tried to open Psycamore office on Iberville Drive in Ocean Springs. The neighborhood's zoning permitted it, but aldermen denied him permission. After lawsuits and a U.S. Department of Justice investigation, Ocean Springs settled with Psycamore in November.

The city made its first payment of $150,000 earlier this week, he said.

"The department found that the city based its decision on discriminatory beliefs, myths and stereotypes about Psycamore's ability to treat individuals with mental disabilities in Ocean Springs," according to the Department of Justice release about the settlement.

As part of the settlement, Ocean Springs officials must undergo sensitivity training

and designate a Building Department employee as an Americans with Disabilities Act compliance officer.

Madakasira said he hoped the steps would help. He stressed his fight had been with some of the aldermen and not with the city or its residents.

News a shock

He said he was shocked when he received a phone call three years ago telling him neighbors of the proposed facility objected to it.

"Our patients are not dangerous, they're not violent," he said. "They are high-functioning individuals who get ill and need to recover. We help them with that."

But Ocean Springs is not the first place such a dust-up has occurred. Disagreements over the location of psychiatric facilities have sprung up on occasion across the country.

In September, a child-care center near Roanoke, Va., objected to a proposal to build a mental-health facility near it. A state delegate then pointed to the situation as an example of the stigma surrounding mental illness.

Earlier in the year, Oakland Park, Fla., commissioners denied a request from Palm Partners LLC to build a psychiatric and behavioral health center, citing its proximity to several schools. The company sued in federal court.

Welcome in Biloxi

Psycamore has since opened a clinic in Biloxi, which Madakasira said has welcomed it.

Opening another clinic in Ocean Springs isn't out of the question, he said, assuming the original property was still appropriately zoned.

He'd fallen in love with the house, he said, which provided a shaded porch and more-homey environment than the standard hospital-like settings.

"But not for another year," he said. "I'd like to see the dust settle."

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