You can say:
DBH need to do something to address the
unmet need and severe behavioral health
service gap for District residents living with
the diagnosis defined in 2013's DSM-5 as
“hoarding disorder” (“HD”). Numerous other
jurisdictions in the DMV have hoarding task
forces. Why doesn’t DC?
1-- You help greatly by submitting your short
written comment here via email to:
Marcia Huff <mhuff@dccouncil.gov>, and CC:
Ashley Strange <astrange@dccouncil.gov>
Budget Hearing information coming soon here.
(Recent Performance hearings here:
https://lims.dccouncil.gov/Hearings/hearings/640
https://lims.dccouncil.gov/Hearings/hearings/641)
2-- Click: “Submit Testimony” at top right.
3-- Complete information requested. Upload
your written testimony. (You can copy the
red text directly from above.)
Committee on Health has oversight for
Department of Behavioral Health (DBH).
You can say:
DBH need to do something to address the
unmet need and severe behavioral health
service gap for District residents living with
the diagnosis defined in 2013's DSM-5 as
“hoarding disorder” (“HD”). Numerous other
jurisdictions in the DMV have hoarding task
forces. Why doesn’t DC?
1-- You help greatly by submitting your short written
comment for the upcoming Budget Oversight
Hearing.
Hearing will soon scheduled to take place in March or
April, 2025.
Link to submit your testimony will be
posted here soon.
2-- Click: “Submit Testimony” at top right.
3-- Complete information requested. Upload your
written testimony. (You can copy the red text directly
from above.)
You can say:
The diagnosis defined as "hoarding disorder"
(HD) directly relates to FEMS because DBH
lack of early behavioral health intervention
costs FEMS, both in dollars and also in life
and limb.
FEMS carries an unnecessarily large financial
burden, because DBH inaction means FEMS
face this diagnosis when HD has reached a
Stage 4 emergency -- far more costly in dollars
-- and human capital.
With your oversight over FEMS, if DBH
provides no early intervention, can your
Committee do anything to help reduce harm
for FEMS? Where is DBH in all this? FEMS
need DBH to provide HD support not only to
save money for FEMS, but also to reduce
harm for FEMS.
If DBH won't address early intervention that
could prevent a bad -- and costly -- outcome,
911 is not activated until it is too late.
"1 in 40 people in the US has a hoarding
disorder," says December 21, 2023, National
Geographic article, and people living with this
diagnosis “are compelled to hold onto the
majority of their belongings, even when doing
so means severely cluttered surroundings
that decrease their quality of life and
jeopardize their safety through increased risk
of fire, mold or rodent infestation, ..." (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/
premium/article/new-virtual-reality-hope-
hoarders-declutter-clean)
“Containing a fire in a home where hoarding
is an issue can take twice as many fire
fighters and twice the time.” (https://www.iaff
.org/wp-content/uploads/Fire_Fighter_
Quarterly/2012-Jul- Aug.pdf -- International Fire
Fighter, Journal of the International Association
of Fire Fighters, July/August 2012)
If DBH continues to do nothing, can this
Committee with your oversight over FEMS
do anything to help?
1-- You help greatly by submitting your short written
comment.
Hearing will soon scheduled to take place in March or
April, 2025.
Link to submit your testimony will be
posted here soon.
(Recent Performance hearings here:
https://lims.dccouncil.gov/Hearings/hearings/708)
2-- Click: “Submit Testimony” at top right.
3-- Complete information requested. Upload your
written testimony. (You can
copy the red text directly from above.)
You can say:
The
diagnosis defined as "hoarding
disorder" (HD) directly relates to APS
because DBH lack of early intervention results in APS making costly emergency
interventions that could have been
prevented by DBH behavioral
health
services.
HD currently represents an unmet behavioral
health
need. DBH
should spend a relatively
smaller amount of taxpayer money to do a
training on evidence based Peer Response
Team treatment approach to the
diagnosis
“hoarding disorder.” ("Peer-led groups were
as effective as
psychologist-led groups,
providing a novel treatment avenue for
individuals without access to mental health
professionals."
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30083381/)
Low cost funding allocation
for DBH to train
DBH Certified Peer Specialists to support
DC residents
living with HD would save
money by providing early intervention and
harm reduction.
Currently DBH refers HD out to Adult
Protective Services.
APS is not a
health care agency and does not provide
behavioral health
services for HD,
which is a medical, health diagnosis.
APS work for HD
is emergency, crisis
intervention — at far higher cost than
if DBH
provided early intervention. APS
performs costly heavy duty clean out,
places people living with this
untreated HD diagnosis under costly
guardianships, and houses people living
with late stage, crisis HD in
costly long term
nursing care — just because the
individuals did not
receive timely behavioral
health support, that could reduce harm long
before the case of HD reaches stage four.
With
your oversight over DACL and APS, if
DBH provides no early
intervention, can
your Committee do anything to help reduce
harm for
District residents undergoing
removal from their homes by APS? Where
is
DBH in all this?
APS need DBH to provide HD support to
save DC taxpayer
money spent on costly
late stage APS intervention.1-- You help greatly by submitting your short written comment.
Budget Hearing information coming soon here. (Recent Performance hearings here:
https://lims.dccouncil.gov/Hearings/hearings/688
2-- Click: “Submit Testimony” at top right.
3-- Complete information requested. Upload your
written testimony. (You can copy the red text directly
from above.)
