Behavioral health facility could have offered both patients and staff a better transition plan.
It’s no secret that there is an extreme lack of mental health facilities across the country. Texas is no exception to that problem, so losing another facility and having remaining patients kicked out is not welcome news – but that’s exactly what has happened recently. The troubled Fort Behavioral Health facility, which had already stopped serving juveniles after having abuse and neglect claims made against the location is now shutting down entirely.
When looking at what Fort Behavioral offered just a short time ago, it’s clear that the residents of the area are losing out on a significant number of important services. As recently as last September, the facility had 24-hour treatment available for adolescents with autism and mental health diagnoses. It also made available treatment for both adults and adolescents with substance use issues to overcome.
In October, the adolescent portion of the program offered by Fort Behavioral was shut down, causing many young people to be left without a viable treatment option. Now, with the complete closure of the facility, adults who are dealing with substance use addiction will be facing the same reality of struggling to find somewhere to get care. Given the sheer volume of people who are currently dealing with addiction in the Fort Worth area, along with the rest of the country, any kind of loss of treatment options is a significant blow.
As already highlighted, the loss of any of these kinds of facilities is harmful, but the way it has played out makes it even more disruptive. The closure has been sudden and there was little to no communication with patients and staff about what was about to transpire. That has left both of those two groups of people struggling to find a path forward that will work in their life.
If more notice was provided to both patients and staff before anyone was kicked out, a smoother transition could have been created for those people. The patients could have had time to seek other treatment options while still receiving care in the meantime. For staff, they could have put together their resumes, created a plan for finding new jobs, and hopefully would have been able to make a clean transition from one facility to the next without being out of work for a period of time. The leadership of the facility – including the CEO and the billionaire owner – are not making themselves available to provide information about why things have gone this way and why so little information was provided to the people who needed it most.
There isn’t much of a silver lining to be found in the story of Fort Behavioral closing down, as it just means that even more people who need help for mental health challenges or substance use issues are not going to be able to get the professional assistance they require. For the welfare of overall public health, it can be hoped that more and more resources will become available moving forward, but it seems like it’s going to take a while to reach that objective.
Sources:
Fort Behavioral Health abruptly ends remaining treatment programs; patients ‘kicked out’
Fort Behavioral Health abruptly ends adult treatment program
