Fifty percent of people who are in substance abuse treatment have co-occurring mental health disorders, but there are very few services in New York that are prepared to serve this population.

New York Assemblyman Phil Steck, chair of the Assembly Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, has introduced a bill (A9097) that would create mental health capacity within the state Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS) and eliminate barriers to coordination between OASAS and the New York State Office of Mental Health. 

“What our bill does, because a lot of the providers in this space don’t have the resources to bring in fully qualified people to diagnose and treat mental illness, is that we would establish a bureau at OASAS staffed by qualified providers,” he explained. 

Over two separate hearings on this issue, Steck said he learned there is a shortage of substance abuse providers that are qualified to diagnose and treat mental health issues. 

At the same time, OASAS and the Office of Mental Health have put out an RFP to create a series of intensive crisis stabilization centers to serve a similar purpose.  

Steck told Capital Tonight that the millions of dollars the state could end up spending on these new centers would be better spent on his proposal.

“These crisis centers can only serve people for 24 hours. It’s an intake point. Then you have to send the people on to treatment anyway,” Steck explained. “We feel that $50 million would be better spent directly on treatment.”

He pointed to a program out of Buffalo called New York Matters that will bring a mental health evaluation to a person dealing with a substance abuse issue, wherever that person may be. That mental health evaluator will then direct the person to remote treatment, so he or she doesn’t have to travel to crisis center. The treatment can begin immediately.

“We would be able to expand that if we had a bureau at OASAS that did it,” Steck said.