PETOSKEY — Northern Michigan mental health providers are sounding the alarm about what they say are urgent funding challenges.
North Country Community Mental Health says contractors don’t have anything to worry about — but providers say they could have to reduce services in the coming months.
Two of the organizations sharing concerns are Grand Traverse industries and the Bergmann Center in Charlevoix.
Both of those groups serve dozens of people with disabilities at any given time, generally helping build employment and life skills through specialized work.
“We are not a temporary solution — we are part of the fabric of this community, and today, we serve 71 individuals, the largest number of any contracted provider in this region,” said Keri Laporte-Montero, CEO of the Bergmann Center.
Jake Smith, COO of the Bergmann Center, encouraged board members to provide what they say is proper funding for their services.
“Without immediate intervention and adequate funding, this network will fail,” Smith said. “This is the reality this board has run out of time to ignore. Providers are being pushed to the brink by unstable funding, inconsistent communication, in a culture that treats them as subordinate departments rather than contracted providers.”
Penny Hawkins is the mother of a disabled woman who uses Bergmann’s services.
“What i found since she began at the Bergmann is her communication skills have increased,” Hawkins said. “Her drive, her personal drive to be with community members out in the community, not just at the Bergmann center.”
Hawkins says that resources like the Bergmann Center help her family feel more connected to the broader community.
“I need the help of others for my own self to survive and thrive — urge her to thrive,” Hawkins said, referring to her daughter.
For its part, North Country Community Mental Health says it doesn’t anticipate severe economic challenges on the horizon.
Administrators promised providers they could sleep soundly and feel confident in the security of their funding.
Still, the CMH says that funding for mental healthcare remains tight.
“We seem to be able to find all kinds of money for war — but not for this,” said Ed Ginop, Board Chair of North Country CMH.
The different parties also acknowledged multiple times that they shared the same goal — working to make mental healthcare in Northern Michigan more accessible and more affordable.