Laconia Daily Sun – April 25, 2025
By GABRIEL PERRY, The Laconia Daily Sun
LACONIA — Fewer dollars in federal funding could lead to reduced services at Lakes Region Mental Health Center. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) met with LRMHC leaders Thursday morning to learn about existing programming, including acute services and mobile crisis response. In the parking lot of the office on Beacon Street, Hassan stepped into the mobile crisis response vehicle, a large van, and spoke with acute service clinician Steven Walker about the scenarios he regularly encounters, serving the center’s clients and others in times of intense psychological distress.
Mobile crisis response vehicles like one at LRMHC help facilitate onsite care by mental health professionals for someone experiencing a mental health crisis.
By calling the 988 crisis hotline, a person in a state of crisis can be connected to emergency services, some dispatched by Lakes Region Mental Health Center. Hassan learned how licensed clinicians would deploy the vehicle and offer supportive services. The crisis response program at Lakes Region Mental Health is funded by federal monies, at risk because of potential cuts to The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which administers the hotline.
“We hold our breath — I think that’s what everyone does right now with any SAMHSA grants,” LRMHC Chief Executive Officer Maggie Pritchard said. “We have one person at the state who’s our contact. Much of the time it’s a federal passthrough to the [mental health] centers.” SAMHSA could be facing $1 billion in rescinded funding appropriated to services meant to curb the national opioid crisis, along with a potential 50% reduction in that agency’s workforce. Hassan and Pritchard said Thursday those cuts could wind up downshifting cuts to state and municipal governments and social services organizations, which may result in reductions in or loss of services.
“We talked today about the progress New Hampshire has made in developing crisis mental health services that meet people where they are,” Hassan said in an interview, noting Senate Democrats are focused on not sliding back on progress made, which could happen based on the budget proposal made by Senate Republicans. “We are working to make sure that our constituents understand where their tax dollars are going,” Hassan said. “The use of their tax dollars for things like this mobile mental health van are actually important and efficient.”
LRMHC’s acute services program includes both a mobile crisis response team and emergency services, available to anybody in a mental health crisis including people who aren’t current patients of the center. Those services are available around-the-clock, every day. Signs of a mental health crisis may include suicidal or homicidal ideation; obvious changes in functioning like neglect of personal hygiene or unusual behavior; self-injurious behavior; extreme fear or paranoia; psychotic symptoms like hearing voices and unbearable hallucinations; or extreme depressive symptoms. In the event of a mental health crisis, call or text 833-710-6477 to be connected with mental health and addiction professionals who can provide immediate support by phone or text, or in person by dispatching the mobile crisis response team.
“The federal dollars for training for therapists and crisis response workers was one-time [American Rescue Plan Act] dollars,” Pritchard said. “We lost that, and the state doesn’t necessarily have a plan to replace it.” Hassan said Senate Democrats are working to collaborate with Republicans in resisting dramatic cuts to impactful programs. “The people of New Hampshire, the people of the United States have power here to influence Republicans, we need some Republican partners in the Senate to join with us in blocking some of these cuts.”