Collegiate Times

The state institutions that are already in place allow children seeking mental health treatment to remain in their communities and close to family, if they have any.

"In our region, the closest private facility that takes adolescents is in Salem," McClaskey said. "For somebody in Lee County to go to Salem -- that's a four-hour drive in some cases. It's the Department of Mental Health's goal to have folks treated in their communities and closer to home. But with these new plans, it's been hard to work on strong plans to be able to do that right."

The center in Staunton is facing the same problem.

"We don't have many state institutions nearby to send our patients to," Roe said. "And we're still facing problems with admittance into private facilities."

Some of the strongest advocates against the new plans to close facilities and cut funding are arguing that there is no safety net in place for the more than 800 children helped annually to ensure that treatment will be available.

A major concern for these advocates are the obvious pitfalls of the mental health system in Virginia that have already allowed some cases to fall through the cracks.

Chris Flynn, director of the Cook Counseling Center, also weighed in on the need for more focus on the status of the state's mental health infrastructure.

"I can't imagine why they would be cutting back on the number of beds when the original numbers are so low," Flynn said. "When students come to us and need to be hospitalized, we do need to look at whether they could have been helped earlier."

Flynn went on to say that there has always been a chronic need in Virginia for more treatment options for mental health. Even though many students who come into Virginia Tech currently have health insurance, with the current economic crisis and job losses, students are slowly losing coverage. The lack of insurance may keep them out of private institutions.

"I am really pleased that the focus of everyone has been on the wellbeing of the children and the adolescents of the commonwealth, and we understand that there are difficult budget decisions that have to be made," McClaskey said. "But I think we want to be known as a commonwealth that takes care of the most vulnerable people."

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