Helping Georgia Build a Healthier Mental Health Care System

In 2007, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigative series revealed at least 130 patients died under suspicious circumstances in Georgia's public psychiatric hospitals in the last decade.

After the lack of official or public response to the suspicious deaths, in 2008, the Carter Center's Mental Health Program began mobilizing the statewide mental health community as well as other stakeholder groups and initiated a partnership with the national Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law to help identify solutions to the crisis in the hospitals.

"When I first began working in the mental health field in Georgia, there was such stigma attached to mental illness that no one wanted to be identified with the issue…I thought the most important thing I could do back then was talk about the issue publicly to try to bring it 'out of the closet'–make it an acceptable subject of conversation." — Former First Lady and Carter Center Mental Health Program Founder Rosalynn Carter, from "Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis."

"Mrs. Carter and The Carter Center have maintained close ties with the Georgia mental health community because of Mrs. Carter's long-time mental health leadership in the state and our location in Atlanta," said Dr. Thom Bornemann, Mental Health Program Director.

"The Mental Health Program was in a unique position to serve as a mediator between the stakeholder groups and the state government because we were seen as an honest broker in the dispute and have long-standing, deep expertise on the challenges facing this state," said Dr. Bornemann.

The Center also devoted three of its annual Rosalynn Carter Georgia Mental Health Forums, leveraging local expertise and experience from a variety of perspectives (including faith-based communities, law enforcement, juvenile justice, and peer support systems) to develop tangible solutions for Georgia's mental health care system.

In October 2010, The Carter Center and its partners helped the state and community stakeholders reach a landmark settlement that included the creation of a robust community behavioral health system and other major changes that were desperately needed for a healthier Georgia. Learn more about the settlement>

Since October 2010, the Center has continued its involvement in this important issue, and will be issuing a final report in late 2011 on tangible solutions that can be further implemented in the state. The report's goal is to assist Georgia in building a quality and sustainable behavioral health system for children, adolescents, and adults that is based on best practices and is broadly supported by the stakeholder community.

News Articles on Georgia Crisis

Nov. 30, 2012
Town Hall Addresses Mental Health
This article was published in the Nov. 30, 2012, issue of the Albany Herald.
The Carter Center, the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD), and other state agencies and partners recently invited the public to participate in a town hall meeting in Albany to discuss the Carter Center's recommendations for improving community behavioral health services for children, adolescents and adults in the state.

Aug. 1, 2012
Atlanta Magazine Groundbreakers Finalists: Rosalynn Carter (PDF)
This article was published in the August issue of Atlanta Magazine and is reprinted with permission.
When the 2007 AJC series met a resounding local silence, Georgians were fortunate that the world's most prominent mental health advocate lives right here. Once again, as she has done for more than forty years, Rosalynn Carter fought for people with mental illnesses.

Aug. 1, 2012
Video: Atlanta Magazine Names Rosalynn Carter as a 2012 Groundbreaker
Atlanta Magazine names Rosalynn Carter as a Groundbreaker for protecting the rights of the mentally ill. The Groundbreakers represent works in progress: smart ideas that are under way but still have years — in at least one case, a couple of decades — to go before their potentials are fully realized.

June 4, 2012
Medicaid More Than Medical Aid
Published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
People like Francel Kendrick once spent most of their lives locked inside state hospitals. Today, because of Georgia's Medicaid program, Kendrick and thousands of disabled people like him can hold down a job and ride a city bus to their own homes after work.

May 23, 2012
Carter Hopeful About Medicaid Restructuring, but Concerned About Consultant's Report
This story aired on WABE-FM.
Former first lady Rosalynn Carter is hopeful about the restructuring of the state's Medicaid program. But Carter expressed concern about a consultant's report that gives recommendations for the revamp, because of its possible impact on a mental health settlement reached with the U.S. Justice Department in 2010.

May 18, 2012
Carter Center Holds Mental Health Summit
This article was published nationally by the Associated Press.
The forum on Friday focused on the progress Georgia has made since the state reached an October 2010 settlement with the Justice Department over what critics saw as the unlawful segregation of people with mental illness and developmental disabilities in state-run hospitals.

Jan. 9, 2012
Some Mentally Disabled Lose Services
This article was published on Jan. 9, 2012, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Evette King recently sat in her south Atlanta home fretting about how she could avoid eviction without someone to watch, feed and bathe her severely autistic son so she can work and pay the bills.

Dec. 16, 2011
Carter Center Pushes Mental Health Improvements
This story was published by the Associated Press on Dec. 16, 2011.
The director of the mental health program at The Carter Center said Friday that Georgia can build on its progress on addressing the treatment needs of drug addicts and the mentally ill.

Dec. 16, 2011
Report: Improvements in Behavioral Health Care Needed for Children and Older Adults (Full text no longer available.)
This story was broadcast by WABE-FM on Dec. 16, 2011.
A preliminary report released by the Carter Center says a mental health settlement reached last year between the state and the U.S. Department of Justice is a good start. However, the report says more is needed to improve behavioral health care in the state.

Dec. 15, 2011
Fixing Ailing System Achievable
This op-ed by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter was published Dec. 15, 2011, by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
I became involved in mental health issues in 1966, campaigning for my husband for governor. A newspaper exposé had revealed terrible conditions in our large mental hospital, Central State in Milledgeville, and families of the patients there were frustrated and almost beyond hope that anything could be done to help their loved ones.

Nov. 11, 2011
Advocates: State's Mental Health System Improving, But Gaps Exist
This article was published in the Nov. 11, 2011 edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Georgia has been rapidly rolling out community services for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled this year, but advocates say much work is left to do to help children with behavioral challenges and to foster better coordination of care among medical doctors and mental health specialists for all patients.

Nov. 1, 2011
Cartersville Town Hall Meeting to Discuss Georgia Mental Health Care Report
Published Nov. 2, 2011, by the Cartersville Daily Tribune News.
"The Cartersville town hall meeting on Nov. 3 is the first of three meetings The Carter Center, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities and other stakeholders are holding across the state to foster local engagement in the transformation of Georgia's behavioral health system," said Dr. Thom Bornemann, director of Carter Center Mental Health Program.

Oct. 11, 2011
Report: Work Remains, But Georgia's Mental Health Overhaul Significant
Published Oct. 11, 2011, by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Georgia has made significant strides in moving the developmentally disabled and mentally ill out of state mental hospitals and into community settings -- despite notable gaps in care, a new report shows. No longer admitting the developmentally disabled into state institutions marks a "landmark accomplishment" for Georgia, according to the report by Elizabeth Jones, an independent reviewer appointed to track the progress of a five-year agreement between the state and U.S. Department of Justice.

Dec. 21, 2010
Perdue: Mental Health Pact a Big First Step
This article was published Dec. 21, 2010, in Georgia Health News.
Gov. Sonny Perdue said Tuesday that with its recent mental health agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, Georgia is "not crossing the finish line.'' Instead, "we are beginning a journey'' toward better services for people with mental illness, developmental disabilities and substance abuse problems, he said.

Dec. 21, 2010
Perdue, Advocates Laud Mental Health Agreement
Distributed Dec. 21, 2010, by the Associated Press.
The very advocates who had for years been among outgoing Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue's fiercest critics were celebrating his role in a groundbreaking mental health settlement — and at President Jimmy Carter's Atlanta office, no less.

Oct. 21, 2010
WXIA Video: Carter Center Reacts to Mental Health Settlement
On Thursday, Oct. 21, Carter Center Mental Health Program Director Dr. Thom Bornemann was interviewed live in studio on WXIA-TV's "Evening News at 7 with Brenda Wood" as part of coverage of the Georgia mental health crisis settlement. The story was designated the number one news story of the day and Brenda Wood discussed the crisis as part of her "Final Word" segment.

Oct. 19, 2010
Feds Settle With Ga. Over Confinement of Disabled
Distributed Oct. 19, 2010, by the Associated Press.
The Justice Department reached a settlement Tuesday with the state of Georgia in a long-running case targeting what critics call the unlawful segregation of people with mental illness and developmental disabilities in state-run psychiatric hospitals.

April 1, 2010
Pushing For Reform
The article was published in the April 2010 edition of Georgia Trend magazine.
Georgia's public mental health system has consistently failed to protect those entrusted to its care. The Department of Justice is suing to take over, even as state officials ask for more time to fix what's broken.

Dec. 19, 2008
Privatizing Mental Health Hospitals: Don't Rush to Hand Off Care of Patients in Need
This op-ed by Thomas Bornemann was published in the Dec. 19, 2008 edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Georgia continues to experience the effects of a mental health system that is tragically broken. Georgia Department of Human Resources' (DHR) has responded with some new proposals, one of which is privatizing and downsizing state mental hospitals.