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Overview

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Links

News

• 2008.02.26 - 03.03 Mental Disorder: The Failure of Reform:
  • Part 1: Reform wastes millions, fails mentally ill "Mental-health changes in North Carolina were intended to improve community treatment and give taxpayers good value, but they have done neither. Providers took clients shopping, swimming and to movies for $61 an hour. And the cost of the community support program was more than 10 times what the state expected."
  • Part 2: Companies cash in on new service "Community support is lucrative for providers, but reviews say many clients don't need the mental-health service. Now the state wants its money back."
  • Part 3: Serious mental therapy fades "North Carolina's 2001 mental-health reforms aimed to make its mental hospitals places of last resort and to have as many people as possible seek treatment near their homes. But now people with severe needs are left without care."
  • Part 4: Caregivers abuse patients, and usually get away with it "Charges are filed in just 13 percent of cases. The lowest-paid, least-trained workers spend the most time with patients."
  • Part 5: Patients die from poor care; families don't hear full story "Since December 2000, at least 82 patients in the state's mental institutions have died in ways that raise questions, including homicides and suicides."
  • Part 6: How can N.C. fix a broken mental health system? "In 2001, state legislators and Gov. Mike Easley's administration set out to reform the public mental health system with a sledgehammer."

Organizations - Autism

• Autism Society of NC (links)
• TEACCH Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication-handicapped CHildren
  • Carolina Living & Learning Center: an integrated vocational and residential program for adults with autism; located in Pittsboro

Organizations - Other

• Family Support Network of NC: "to promote and provide support for families with children who have special needs"
• NAMI NC: National Alliance on Mental Health, NC Chapter
• NC Health Policy Gateway, a project of Duke University and NC Blue Cross Blue Shield