This is something you don't hear much. And by much, we mean ever.
A report by a national mental health advocacy group concludes that cuts to mental health funding in the state over three years weren't so bad.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness released a report today on state mental health budget cuts since 2009 that showed North Carolina ranked 24th among all states.
"I think our secretary and our leaders have tried to preserve funding for mental health," said Deby Dihoff, NAMI North Carolina executive director. "I don't think it feels that way to the person who tried to use mental health (services). It feels like an environment that is problematic right now. At least (the state) hasn't cut the money more seriously."
The national report looks at two time periods for its report: Funding from fiscal years 2009 to 2012, and 2011 to 2012.
North Carolina shows a 1.2 percent decrease between 2009-2012, where it comes in 24th, and 7.3 percent reduction from 2011-2012, where the cut is the 4th highest, by percentage.
The current budget takes $45 million of the $48.2 million reduction from local mental health offices, called Local Management Entities, which were told to take the cuts out of their savings, the report says.
Of course, NAMI would have liked the state to have been one of the more than 30 that increased its mental health budget this year.
