In 2006, Maine was ranked by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill as one of the top five states in the nation for services to people with mental illness. Such an impressive ranking can be attributed to the vibrant, well-developed and widespread array of nonprofit agencies providing access to mental health care across the state. Indeed, the staff of these nonprofit agencies represent one of the most highly trained and skilled work forces available in our state, and for many years nonprofit agencies have developed the resources that place Maine at our nation’s forefront in health care for this sector of the population.

As demonstrated by the National Alliance’s report, Maine’s behavioral health agencies play a critical role in the provision of efficient and effective mental health services. A healthful community relies on certain key components to remain viable: good schools, a good economy, good municipal services, good recreational opportunities and good comprehensive health care. The partnerships and therapeutic relationships we are able to create with those we serve are critical to establishing a higher quality of life for individuals and families working to maintain recovery from mental illness. And we have long recognized the importance of the services we offer in keeping the social fabric of our local communities whole, healthy, and intact. We understand and value the culture of our community and work with consumers to secure a future that is eased from the difficulties of coping with a mental illness.

In developing our commitment to improving mental health for the people of Maine, we draw considerable inspiration from Dorothea Dix, a humble and thoughtful teacher and activist born in Hampden, who led an intense crusade in the 1800s to change drastically the way people thought about and cared for people with mental illness. With a driving “passion for compassion,” she started a movement toward enlightened treatment of people facing the challenges and stigma of mental illness. This movement spread from Maine across the United States and Europe, and has been carried on by dedicated and conscientious individuals and groups who have come together across the state to address this continued need for enlightenment, for skilled practices, and for compassion. The staff of Maine’s behavioral health network, in the tradition of Dorothea Dix, continue to place people with mental illness in the least restrictive environments possible, environments where they have both personal choice and self-direction in their decisions about how they want to live their lives.

As Dorothea Dix promoted a spirit of volunteerism and the creation of a caring community, so too Maine’s nonprofit agencies draw on the expertise of volunteers from their local communities to oversee and influence decision making. Agency boards of directors are constituted by people from all walks of life who give willingly of their time, at no cost to the agency, to make sure that the public trust is secured and that the tax dollars, upon which nonprofits rely, are used to the best advantage and to secure the best services for the people we serve. Nonprofit boards of directors represent the best of what we have to offer here in Maine, caring citizens. As Margaret Meade noted, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”

The motto of Maine’s Behavioral Health Agencies could be condensed into key concepts of what we are collectively committed to:

??Honoring the culture, history, and behavioral health needs of Maine’s most important resource; our people.

??Securing ready and accessible mental health services on a statewide basis.

??Creating partnerships and assisting individuals to achieve and maintain their recovery.

??Working to keep families close and intact by improving the quality of their mental health care needs.

??Constantly maintaining extreme vigilance in these extreme circumstances.

In the midst of these very trying times, when resources are failing and reimbursements are withering, the staff of Maine’s nonprofit behavioral health agencies want to remind the concerned citizens of the state that we are a “mission driven” business model, driven to serve others. We share the same “passion for compassion” that Dorothea Dix emulated so well. What conveys onto Maine the very special recognition by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill is that we have consistently shown we do not abandon our fellow citizens in times of need. So, we ask, we hope for, and we need your wise understanding and enlightened support, here and now, to insure that the system we have all worked so hard to create is not seriously eroded or compromised as the decisions about meeting Maine’s future mental health needs are being forged at the State and Legislative level.

Richard M. Brown is the chief executive officer of the Charlotte White Center in Dover-Foxcroft.