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Funds available for mental health aid

Decatur Daily (AL) - 12/14/2014

Dec. 14--The Morgan County Juvenile Probation Office has entered into an agreement with the Mental Health Center of North Central Alabama for the center to help juveniles who don't have insurance.

Chief Juvenile Probation Officer Jeff Simmons said the office has $15,000 that it can use for services that include drug testing and GED testing. The money for the mental health services will come out of the same pot.

Although 95 percent of the 350 to 400 juveniles the office deals with at any given time have insurance, Simmons said, "We don't want to leave the kids who don't have insurance out."

The probation office once had five treatment slots with the mental health center, but those were lost when Decatur cut funding to the mental health center as a cost-saving measure in 2013. Simmons has since been looking for other avenues to help those without insurance.

Two juveniles already have received the help they need because the Morgan County Commission approved the agreement in late November.

"Whether it's through their insurance, Medicaid or through our funds, we can help one way or the another," Simmons said.

When the treatment slots went away, county juvenile court liaison Tasma Ball said she watched about seven adolescents a year who needed mental health services walk out her door without receiving treatment. Now she has another avenue to help teens who suffer from chronic depression or anxiety. She said this also can help those who are waiting for a Medicaid application to be approved.

"If someone is having suicidal thoughts, you don't want to wait a month or two to get them in," Ball said. "Now we can use the contract money until the insurance comes through."

Simmons knows adolescents come into the Morgan County Probation Office with more than just criminal charges.

Most of them come in with a variety of family issues mixed with depression and possibly substance abuse. That's why Simmons wants the probation office to be a one-stop shop for juveniles who need services, especially when it comes to mental health.

"It's not just a child who comes in and shoplifts," Simmons said. "We want to go ahead and put the child into services so we can start helping them before the child goes to court."

Ball said she will still hand out Medicaid applications to those who don't have severe mental health needs. The contract doesn't restrict juveniles from using other agencies, such as The Enrichment Center, for their mental health services.

Jonece Dunigan can be reached at 256-340-2442 or jonece.dunigan@decaturdaily.com. Follow on Twitter @DD_Dunigan.

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