Leopold: Better communication can help prevent mental health tragedies

Although the county over the past 15 years has increased the health department budget for mental health services for returning veterans and others, mental health budgets have generally been slashed at all levels of government — federal, state and local — and some state governors have ill-advisedly refused to expand Medicaid coverage that could have boosted investments in mental health services. While serving as county executive, I organized two public forums at Anne Arundel Community College to address the need to improve access to behavioral health resources, and we began to outline a strategy focusing on prevention, early intervention and treatment.