NC DHHS: would you PLEASE get the basic mental health services fixed before you launch into throwing people off of disability & making them work?

I hear that Talking Heads song in my head: "Crosseyed and Painless"

'Im still waiting...Im still waiting...Im still waiting...'

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You'd think that as much of a mess NC DHHS has made of mental health reform that they would attempt to get the basic services FIXED before they decided to launch into throwing people off of disability w/ the excuse that they believe they can WORK.

Comments are being taken by Mecklenberg County (Charlotte, NC) as associated with a desire (remember: they had McCrory as a Republican mayor and Republicans like to think that they would never be in the position of having to use social programs as they simultaneously beg on the Wall Street sidewalk for socialized corporate hand-outs: Citizen: can you spare $700 billion $$$$$$$$$$$$$) : Susie.Parrott@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

Associated article at the Charlotte Observer:
DSS seeks comments on Work First plan

(cut and paste): http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/
story/225061.html

Work, indeed, is what people w/ disabilities want to do. It has been the No 1 complaint vis a vis NAMI.

I have clients who work and I certainly encourage them to do this.

But trust me, you'd be an idiot to encourage this w/o having some significant knowledge about the perils.

There is a very good woman at the top of the pile associated with Work Incentives/ SSA NC: Ida Campbell: ida.campbell@ssa.gov.

Unfornately, no one under her knows anything like she knows or has her capacity to quickly answer e mail---and even her phone!!----and so the entire Work Incentive program, specifically, allowing people collecting disabliity e.g., SSDI (PASS program)/ SSDI (Ticket to Work) program----to FADE INTO work is massively complicated for even a smart person.

The PASS program is a good idea whose structure is full of holes associated w/ complexity/ no one to talk to re: matters which are part of the usage of the PASS program.

You send your emails to other people and they simply do not respond. You cannot get them on the phone. You would literally have to get in your car, wait at the SSA office, and hope that they were there.

This WILL NOT work. Even for the profoundly persistent. Until the matter of non-access to SSA people-----AND CAN YOU IMAGINE THE EXPONENTIAL DIFFICULTIES THAT NC DHHS WOULD HAVE?-----to answer questions---CORRECTLY----you might as well forget this.

Case in point: long-term client of mine INdeed, she is an ideal client to move into PASS program; has an undergraduate college degree in an areana which is sought after. Over the course of the past 15 years, attempting time and again to return to work, she used up her 9 months.

SSA indicates that there is a 36 month AUTOMATIC Extended Work Evaluation period. It didn't kick in for her? Why not? I cannot get the answer even via Ida Campbell and the name of the person on the flurry of letters, one which contradicts the one before it.

REMEMBER: THERE ARE ONLY 9 MONTHS TO 'TRY THIS ON' AND YOU WILL LOSE YOUR SSDI.
What you will get in return is a vastly lesser amount of money vis a vis SSI. Your Medicare will get boondoggled; you will not know if you have Medicaid or Medicare; no one will be able to answer the question.

FIX THE BASIC SERVICES FIRST as associated with access to psychiatric care; outpatient therapy----AND OH REMEMBER THAT COMMUNITY SUPPORT SERVICES DEFUNDING----which is associated with getting people back to work.

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Facts are simple and facts are straight
Facts are lazy and facts are late
Facts all come with points of view
Facts dont do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
Facts are getting the best of them
Facts are nothing on the face of things
Facts dont stain the furniture
Facts go out and slam the door
Facts are written all over your face
Facts continue to change their shape

Im still waiting...Im still waiting...Im still waiting...
Im still waiting...Im still waiting...Im still waiting...
Im still waiting...Im still waiting...

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/talking+heads/
crosseyed+painless_20135079.html