Loss of R.I. funding forces layoffs at program that helps those with mental illness

Aug. 30--PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The state's failure to renew a grant to the Oasis Wellness and Recovery Center, an important community resource for three decades for hundreds of people living with mental illness, has jeopardized the organization's survival, according to Executive Director James McNulty.

Faced with the loss of about $450,000 for the fiscal year that began on July 1, McNulty on Friday was forced to lay off five full-time and two part-time employees and severely restrict the center's hours and operations.

McNulty said members of the Oasis community were "devastated" and "bewildered" by the news.

"Peer support has been shown to be extremely effective in engaging people to get into recovery and maintain it," McNulty said. "The peer support model complements the medical treatment of these disorders and empowers individuals to take charge of their lives and to optimize their functioning in society."

McNulty, one of the state's most prominent mental-health advocates and a man who successfully lives with bipolar disorder, said Oasis stopped receiving block-grant funds from the state Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals (BHDDH) at the end of June.

In the past, funds continued into the new fiscal year while terms of a new contract were negotiated, McNulty said. That didn't happen this year, he said; rather, a request for proposals was issued, and subsequently withdrawn, although one is expected to be reissued. Meanwhile, Oasis, a division of Mental Health Consumer Advocates of Rhode Island, has been left in limbo, McNulty said.

McNulty said he said he questions whether the department understands the value of Oasis's services to its approximately 450 members, many of them poor and facing homelessness and other social and health challenges, including cancer.

"There is a lot of expertise at the department, some of it quite valuable, but not on mental health," McNulty said on Saturday. "The people I deal with are well-intended, but they do not understand what it's like to live with mental illness, to be poor and to depend on the public system."

Starting Monday, Oasis will be open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. "Wellness and recovery will be from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. with informal support until 1 p.m.," McNulty said. The art program will be held during six slots Tuesdays through Fridays, including 1-to-3 p.m. sessions on Wednesdays and Fridays.

"We wouldn't be able to do this without our volunteers," McNulty said.

McNulty said that he has not paid his own salary since the first of July. He also had to cancel the center's lunch program.

In a media release, Oasis member Bill Lawlor praised the organization.

"Had I not been introduced to Oasis by a peer specialist two years ago, my life would not be the same," Lawlor said. "I came here mentally broken and found a group of people who accepted me, did not judge me, and by this support, my life is thriving now."

McNulty said he remains hopeful state funding can be restored.

McNulty, a former staff member of BHDDH's predecessor agency and ex-president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness' board of directors, has been an outspoken critic of Rhode Island's mental health system, most recently in the last installment of The Journal's continuing Mental Health in Rhode Island series, about failed children's mental health care, http://bit.ly/1NuvB7h.

A spokeswoman for BHDDH said in a statement Saturday: "The Department works with a number of partners and is in constant communication with providers to help adults with mental illness and substance use disorders receive the services they need to live healthy, fulfilling lives. We are open to working with partners across the state to ensure we can continue to meet the needs of this special population."

gwmiller@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7380

OnTwitter: @GWayneMiller

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