By Kansas Public Radio Newservice
TOPEKA, Ks. – A conference committee meeting today at the Kansas Statehouse will continue efforts to finalize a budget bill. Mental health organizations, meanwhile, are bracing for possible cuts in state funding.
Robbin Cole is the executive director of Pawnee Mental Health Services, based in Manhattan. She says they have been reducing services to deal with cuts in recent years. That includes laying off employees and closing some offices. Cole says during that same time demand for their services increased by 10 percent.
"When you do the math, what that has to mean is if we're serving more clients with fewer people and fewer money, then the clients are probably not receiving the same amount of treatment that they received in previous years," says Cole.
In advance of possible budget cuts, Pawnee Mental Health Services has shut down their Glen Elder office in north central Kansas. Cole says they will continue to cover the ten counties they currently serve.