Last month, several public employee unions organized a rally that included focus on the movement of unionized workers from state institutions to private nonprofits as care for the disabled and mentally ill shifts to community-based settings. Part of what came out of that rally was the unnecessary bashing of the nonprofit workforce. According to the Times Union, the unions "question the quality of services that nonprofits will provide." To quote John McEnroe, "You cannot be serious."
In the nonprofit sector in mental health, we don't criticize the state workforce. We don't have the time or the inclination. Such agencies, like the members of the Mental Health Association in New York State and our colleagues in the community, are too busy providing the cost-effective and innovative services that keep people with mental illness in the community and not in a hospital.
This conversation should not be about comparing the state workforce to that in the nonprofits. That might be useful language for union leaders to play to their base, but we think it serves no purpose except to offend an incredibly dedicated workforce.
Through my career, I have worked with individuals in the mental health field who are in the state workforce. They are among the most dedicated, compassionate individuals I have ever met. The same can be said for individuals in the nonprofits.
It is not about either/or. When someone with a mental illness is in crisis, they don't care if they are receiving services from a state employee or a nonprofit employee. They just want someone who can help. Bashing the nonprofits is purposeless. It breeds division and resentment. This conversation needs to be about the individuals receiving quality recovery services.
This is a time we should all be working together to ensure the nonprofits are provided with the same enhancements and training dollars as the state agencies so individuals in the mental health community get the best quality services.
Glenn Liebman is the CEO of the Mental Health Association in New York State