By Taylor Sisk
Staff writer
“It’s almost like a bad tsunami blowing our way,†said Thava Mahadevan, executive director of XDS Inc., a Chapel Hill-based mental health provider, “and you don’t know which way to run. There’s no high ground.â€
Mahadevan was referring to plans to largely do away with community support services in the impending state budget, with the intent of eliminating them the following year.
“Like everyone else, we’re quite shell shocked,†Mahadevan said.
XDS’s objective is to provide a comprehensive suite of outpatient services with a team of professionals assigned to each client, available on an around-the-clock basis. These are evidence-based assertive community treatment services, including community support services, for people with severe and persistent mental histories, most particularly designed for those with dual disorders.
Plans to cut community support services will have a dramatic impact on a number of XDS’s clients, Mahadevan said, citing the cases of several of those clients in Orange and Chatham counties:
J.P. has been diagnosed with several mental health disorders and has a history of sexually assaultive and violent behavior. He lives with his elderly mother and stepfather. XDS meets with him for an hour each week. He’s held a job for two years now and has had no brushes with the law in that period.
Mahadevan fears that without supervision, M.W. will suffer.
R.L. has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, cognitive deficits and ADHD. He has a history of violent behavior, setting fires and property destruction, and has had multiple hospital stays. XDS has assisted him in working toward his GED and in finding a job. After a recent attempt at reducing his level of support, M.M. stole his grandmother’s car, wrecked it and made homicidal threats to a neighbor.
D.D. has a diagnosed bi-polar disorder and a history of violent behavior that’s led to multiple incarcerations. He’s been hospitalized up to 12 times a year, but in working with XDS on managing his symptoms, his hospital visits have been dramatically reduced.
E.R. was diagnosed in adolescence with a bi-polar disorder and was frequently hospitalized for extended stays. With XDS’s help, he’s graduated from UNC, is gainfully employed and has no hospital admissions in several years. XDS’s community services team delivers his medication, monitors his compliance and charts any symptoms for his psychiatrist.
Mahadevan acknowledges that some providers were misusing funds allotted for community services, but doesn’t believe that justifies discontinuing all such services. His clients will suffer, he said, as will taxpayers.
“For the taxpayer, this is a bad deal, because when you don’t provide the services it ends up costing you a lot more.†When simple, preventative services such as providing meds and monitoring their use are no longer provided, he asks, what then happens?
Mahadevan says that he’s been wondering “if this is just a bad dream,†that maybe when the budget is finalized the cuts won’t be nearly so bad.
“But it’s sure not looking like it,†he said.