AUGUSTA - Rep. Charlotte Warren, D-Hallowell, introduced legislation to strengthen statewide mental health services, including mobile response services, before the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services on Monday.
LD 1586 provides peer support, crisis lines, crisis intervention mobile response and crisis stabilization unit services to Maine's eight public health districts. Additionally, the measure provides funding for a mental health education campaign that, if enacted, will better inform law enforcement and the public of existing services to help both before and during mental health crises. The measure is an effort to decrease incarceration rates and increase the successful utilization of mental health services.
"This bill does not create something new," said Warren. "Our state already has what other states are currently trying to build. We already have a crisis response system, but it is vastly underfunded. But by properly supporting these services, we can reduce overall costs by preventing people experiencing mental health crises from being jailed or imprisoned. The bottom line is we cannot and should not rely on incarceration as a method to house and treat those experiencing mental health crises."
The committee will hold a work session on LD 1586 in the coming weeks.
Warren, House chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety, is serving her fourth term in the Maine House of Representatives and represents Hallowell, Manchester and West Gardiner.
Contact:
Jackie Merrill [Warren], c. 812-1111