May is Mental Health Awareness Month in New Hampshire, when community mental health advocates and providers work to increase knowledge and understanding about mental illness and stigma, on both the state and local levels. For the NH Community Behavioral Health Association (CBHA) and our ten community mental health center members, the focus on mental health and reducing stigma is our priority each and every month of the year. We are committed to ensuring that every Granite Stater, regardless of age, income, race, or background, has access to high-quality, compassionate care that supports recovery, resilience, and overall well-being.

It was both significant and heartening that Governor Ayotte opened her May 5th Mental Health Awareness Month proclamation with this statement: “During Mental Health Awareness Month, I want to remind all Granite Staters that seeking treatment for a mental health challenge is just as important as going to the doctor when you’re sick.” Nothing could be more on point. Normalizing the services we provide for mental illness and working to erase stigma around them is central to CBHA’s mission. When individuals feel empowered to seek help without fear or shame or judgment, outcomes improve, and lives are saved.

In advocating for increased support for the mental health system in New Hampshire, CBHA members, NAMI-NH, and other mental health advocates we partner with have often posed this question: why should someone in a mental health crisis not be treated the same as someone in cardiac arrest? Mission Zero, a project initiated by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in which the community mental health centers and other advocates participate, has worked for the past 4 years to reduce hospital emergency room boarding. DHHS examined the State’s 10-Year Mental Health Plan and identified strategies to bring about this effort, which is seeing real results and making a lifesaving difference for those in a mental health crisis.

Until recently, it was not uncommon for adults and children in a mental health crisis to sit in hospital ER departments waiting days, weeks, even months, to get the care they need. With Mission Zero, New Hampshire has finally turned a corner on the emergency room boarding crisis and the waitlist has shrunk significantly. But Mission Zero’s progress and the overall work of the community mental health system is threatened by the state budget being developed now in Concord. The House version of the two-year spending plan would cut many essential services around Medicaid, which is the highest source of revenue for the community mental health centers and a major revenue source for other health care providers.

Making cuts to the Medicaid program, imposing work requirements, requiring prescription co-pays, and creating unnecessary administrative burdens around DEI references in vendor contracts will all serve to put the state back to where we were 14 years ago, when the ER boarding waitlist spiked. Five years ago, the COVID pandemic created new challenges for the mental health care system, from which the community mental health centers and other health care providers are still recovering. Meanwhile, the need for services increases steadily. Recently, there were two suicides on the same day in one NH city. Every suicide is a tragedy and a reminder that this work is urgent and unfinished.

We have made tremendous progress, but we need to keep up the momentum so that every person in our state who needs access to appropriate and timely mental health care gets it. Mission Zero needs to be supported, not diminished. As Mental Health Awareness Month comes to a close, we need to recognize the many organizations that have sponsored community events, ranging from road races and concerts to crisis response trainings, to bring focus to mental health and stigma. These efforts are more than symbolic; they represent our collective determination to build a system that meets people where they are and helps them move forward.

Maggie Pritchard is president of the NH Community Behavioral Health Association and CEO of Lakes Region Mental Health Center. She lives in Boscawen.