Supporters of wider mental health care see the current debate as an opportunity to reverse long-time budget cuts across the country. Meanwhile in Texas, some mental health activists are seeking changes in detention policies.
The Washington Post: After Newtown, Support For Mental-Health Spending Grows
Mental-health advocates from coast to coast are seizing upon a rare and unexpected chance to stem the years-long tide of budget cuts and plug gaps in the nation's patchwork mental-health care system. In the wake of the massacre in Newtown, Conn., lawmakers from both parties, along with notoriously tight-belted governors, are pushing to restore some of the estimated $4.3 billion in mental-health spending that was slashed from state budgets between 2009 and 2012. At the same time, they are weighing new initiatives, such as adding beds at psychiatric hospitals and improving treatment for inmates with behavioral disorders (Dennis and Sun, 2/23).