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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BROOKLYN PSYCHIATRIC CENTERS, INC. ASKS CITY COUNCIL TO
RESTORE FUNDING FOR CLEARWAY PROGRAM
BROOKLYN, NY–April 22, 2002—The director of Clinical Operations for Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers asked the City Council’s Brooklyn delegation today to restore funding for the agency’s Clearway program, an outpatient program that treats adolescents and adults with co-existing mental health and substance abuse problems. The Clearway program began operation in 1999 and is located in downtown Brooklyn.
Marie Kelleher testified at the hearing held at Brooklyn Borough Hall that the current City budget proposes to cut all City funding—$200,000—for the Clearway program, roughly half of its budget. The other half is funded with Medicaid fees. The cuts are part of a $3.7 million reduction in all substance abuse services beginning in FY 2003.
“The City began allocating funding for Clearway and other programs like it in 1998 because mental health officials recognized that many individuals with mental health and substance abuse problems were treating their depression, anxiety, or other disorder with drugs and alcohol resulting in problems, such as violent and criminal behavior, that were far more costly to society than treatment,” Ms. Kelleher said.
Ms. Kelleher said the Clearway program specializes in recognizing and treating both disorders. “Of our clients, 90 percent receive psychotropic medication prescribed by the program’s psychiatrist. Without our program, clients are at serious risk for relapse,” she said.
The Clearway program actually saves the government money because the average annual cost of treating a Clearway client is $6,000 a year compared to more than $39,600 to incarcerate an individual. Fifty-eight percent of Clearway’s clients have criminal records. The Clearway program, which offers evening hours, also has enabled 28 percent of Clearway’s clients to work, with eight individuals getting jobs after joining the program.
The annual cost of the Clearway program also is less than paying to place a family in foster care, which averages about $7,000 per year, per child, she said. Thirty percent of Clearway’s clients have or have had children in foster care, with five clients having children returned to them after entering the program.
Ms. Kelleher continued that 70 percent of Clearway’s clients have children, making it critical that these parents are able to properly care for their children, and seven percent of Clearway’s clients are children 12 to 18. Clearway is one of the few city programs that treats children with mental health and substance abuse problems.
Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers, the parent organization for the Clearway program, is a 95-year-old nonprofit mental health agency serving New York residents. With its programs, Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers provides more than 60,000 visits to adults, seniors, and their families annually. The agency is one of Brooklyn’s oldest mental health agencies and continues to be at the forefront of innovation in treatment.
More information is available from Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers at 718-875-5625.