Politics & Government

Hearing Addresses Proposed Treatment Program, Suicide Hotline Cuts

The Fairfax County Human Services Council concluded a series of public hearings Monday addressing possible cuts due to budget shortfalls.

Fairfax County resident Tom Walker started using drugs and alcohol when he was nine years old. He told the Fairfax County Human Services Council at Monday's public hearing he wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for help he received through the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board (CSB). 

Walker graduated from the now-defunct Sunrise treatment program in 1997, and has successfully pursued a career in mental health. 

The CSB provides services for people of all ages with mental illness, substance use disorders, and/or intellectual disability, and for infants and toddlers with developmental delays.

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The agency faces an $8 million gap in its $150 million budget for 2012, and an additional $9.5 million gap in 2013. A budget management plan to address the shortfalls was released in May.  It proposes service cuts that would impact families across the county.

Walker urged the council to advise against the proposed closing of New Horizons, an intensive treatment program for people with mental health and co-occurring substance abuse issues; and Sojourn House, a community-based therapeutic group home for girls ages 12 through 17 experiencing significant mental health difficulties and/or substance use issues.

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“If New Horizons and Sojourn House are closed, where will these individuals go?” Walker asked.

More than 30 residents spoke before the council and a room packed to capacity at the Fairfax County Government Center.  In support of funding for CrisisLink, Fairfax County’s crisis and suicide prevention hotline, many attendees wore T-shirts printed with “I’m alive."

CrisisLink prevented 275 suicide attempts in Fairfax County in the last 11 months,” said Julia Stephens, executive director of the organization. “Not only do we save money, but CrisisLink saves lives.”  Stephens explained suicide attempts cost thousands in emergency medical services and ongoing treatments.

Jocelyn Carter’s son Casimir has cutis marmorata telangiectatica congenita (CMTC), a rare congenital disorder, and is about to graduate from the county’s S. John Davis Career Center. But she’s worried there might not be anywhere for him to go if employment services are cut.

“We need money to let our children go to work so that they can be productive members [of society],” she said. “They want to go to work. They want to get jobs.”

Monday's hearing was the third and final in a series held by the Human Services Council. The council will spend the next two weeks going through citizen testimony and more than 400 online survey responses before it presents its findings and recommendations to the Board of Supervisors.

A Human Services Council Joint meeting of appointed representatives of the Fairfax County Human Services Council and the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board is scheduled for Monday, June 25, at 7:30 p.m. in in Conference Rooms 2 and 3 of the Fairfax County Government Center.  The group will review information and feedback provided through public comment and written remarks.


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