Although July is usually regarded as a slow summer month, this July there are many new and important events in Georgia. In fact, July 1st is the start of the state of Georgia’s fiscal year — when the budget passed by the General Assembly during its term goes into effect — along with many of the new laws it enacted.
One such piece of legislation is HB 1013, known as the Mental Health Parity Act, which went into effect on July 1st. This important and long-needed law requires insurers to provide the same coverage for behavioral disorders (such as mental health and substance use) as they do for physical health problems. While parity has been federal law for many years, there has been little active enforcement at the state level, which this law also addresses.
One of the key benefits of HB 1013 will be improving access to behavioral health services in Georgia by ensuring that people are not cut off from critical treatment services due to arbitrary political restrictions – any more than they would be cut off from cardiac care or physical therapy. Such parity also helps reinforce what we have always said in the behavioral health field – that mental illness and substance use disorders are legitimate medical problems from which individuals can recover with appropriate treatment and support.
Closer to home in Northwest Georgia, July 1 also marks the completion of the consolidation of the former Cobb County Community Services Board into Highland Rivers Health. Under the guidance of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, this process took approximately two years. After completing an earlier consolidation of Haralson Behavioral Health Services into Highland Rivers on January 1, the newly named Highland Rivers Behavioral Health is one of the largest nonprofit bodies in Georgia.
These consolidations have been a tremendous opportunity for our organization and our communities, and we have integrated great people across all three agencies who have combined beautifully in a common mission to our communities in Northwest Georgia. With these consolidations, we have also expanded our board to 18 members and are installing new signage at all agency facilities with our new name and logo. With both consolidations complete, we are also launching a new website at highlandrivers.org. This new site will be a useful tool for everyone in the 13 counties where we operate to learn about the services we offer and how to access them – complete with an interactive location map, online reference forms and off-site emergency contact information the business hours. Despite the tremendous amount of work involved in these consolidations, our agency is stronger than ever and poised to increase the number of people we can serve in all of our communities.
Finally, there is another important new development taking place this July in Georgia (and indeed across the US) and that is the launch of the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Hotline. Just like calling 911 for a medical emergency, people can now call 9-8-8 for a mental health emergency. In Georgia, these calls are routed to the Georgia Crisis and Access Line (GCAL), which has been serving Georgia for many years. GCAL’s phone number – (800) 715-42250 – and the MyGCAL app all remain active even after 9-8-8 goes live, and Georgians can still reach GCAL by phone or SMS.
Common to all of these developments—mental health parity, the consolidation of our agencies, and the introduction of 9-8-8—are all improving access to behavioral health care in Georgia at the local and state levels. and access to medical care is the critical ingredient in strengthening Georgia’s mental health system and improving the quality of life for individuals and families in communities across our state.
Melanie Dallas is a Licensed Professional Counselor and CEO of Highland Rivers Behavioral Health, which provides treatment and recovery services for people with mental illness, substance use disorders, and intellectual and developmental disabilities in a 13-county region of northwest Georgia that includes Murray and Whitfield counties.
