Mental health as a state goal

Mental Health of course is a national, as well as an international goal, but at its best it begins as a personal choice by the lone individual making up the family, the community, the city, the district, the county, and finally the state, and the country. Or, by those responsible for those who are mentally incapacitated and who aren't to make their own decisions.

What this is leading to, is state care of the mentally ill, with help and direction, of course, from national sources. In other words, states often have peculiar circumstances that make their problems slightly different from problems in other states. They must have the choice of managing health care since they better understood what is needed most.

In particular, and for this topic, I am using the state of West Virginia as an example. Certainly they won't mind being made a scape goat once more for problems they didn't create. But they have, like all other states, plenty mental health problems on their books. Why them and why bring it up on this particular day?

This is the March 9, Ash Wednesday, the first day of the 2011 Lenten season. It is the forty days before Easter when traditionally the Christian religion, and more specifically, the Catholic Church, decides to live a more austere life as preparation for a cleaner slate come Easter Sunday, where once again they hope to live a better life.

Of course, much of this is ritualistic, but no matter, it is far better than skipping over the event as if it never happened. Where does mental health and West Virginia come into the picture? Well it happened like this: I received in the mail, as part of The Spirit, the West Virginia Catholic newspaper, a special insert "Hearts Made Whole, written by the Most Reverend Michael J. Bransfield, the Bishop of Wheeling- Charleston Diocese in West Virgina.

This was written by him to tackle the problem of drug abuse. He notes that in his travels across our state, he has been aware of the overuse of drugs. And in this way, he is trying to do his share of alleviating the problem by making known how serious a problem it really is.

"Bishop Bransfield to Release Pastoral Letter on Behavioral Health:
By Colleen Rowan: WHEELING—In his third pastoral letter, Bishop Michael J. Bransfield calls for an improved response to and care for those suffering from chemical dependency and mental illness in West Virginia.

Bishop Bransfield will promulgate the letter, entitled “Hearts Made Whole: A Pastoral Response to Behavioral Health in West Virginia,” on the Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, Feb. 11, which is also World Day of Prayer for the Sick.