Shafer says better mental health services are on the horizon
By Terry Murry on Tuesday, June 1st, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – Umatilla County recently announced its intent to name Community Counseling Services as both its mental health and substance abuse disorder provider. Currently, the county is handling substance use disorders while Lifeways handles mental health disorders.
Umatilla County Commissioner John Shafer is the board of commissioners’ mental health liaison. He also has years of experience with people suffering from mental health issues during his time at the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office. He says the single-provider system will smooth out the process for those who need help.
“A provider can and has shown up and said, ‘This person is intoxicated, and this is going to have to go to the alcohol and drug side,’” he said. “Then, they would leave.”
The next step would be to alert substance use disorder counselors of the problem. “Then the SUD person gets there and says, ‘Well, yeah, of course they’re under the influence of an intoxicant, because they’re self-medicating, because they’re in a mental crisis,’” he said. “Unfortunately, what you have is fingers pointing all over the place but nobody’s dealing with the person who’s actually in crisis.”
