Mental Health Consumers' Organization
Honors Rep. Clary with Top Honor
June 5, 2002

The North Carolina Mental Health Consumers' Organization honored Rep. Debbie Clary this week with the organization's Dorothea Dix Spirit Award. Rep. Clary was presented the award for Outstanding Legislative Support of persons with mental illness.

During the presentation, the association thanked Rep. Clary for her four terms of service and advocacy for the mental ill. It was noted that she received the award specifically for "taking a public stand against an area mental health program that was not delivering services and was overcharging the mentally ill in her district."

The group thanked Clary for organizing a public hearing which was attended by over 150 concerned citizens and elected officials to further call attention to the importance of good community mental health services. Clary says, "Area Mental Health Programs are supposed to be a support system for persons with mental illness, their families and the providers of services to the mentally ill in the community. In the Gaston, Cleveland, Lincoln area, the program has been a barrier to families and providers. They illegally charged people $20 or refused services, they have continued to raise provider service fees with less money going to actual services and more to administration as well as continual problems with employee morale … as of today, all three Doctors working in Cleveland County have resigned. While I can brag on Shelby as being home to North Carolina's "model clubhouse", Adventure House, I have to say that I am ashamed of the area mental health program and the lack of services they deliver due to poor management. I am proud that former Doctors with the program are now speaking out and working for positive changes for their patients."

Rep. Clary serves on the Board of Adventure House in Shelby and is a strong supporter of the "Clubhouses" for persons with mental illness. Clary is also a member of the DHHS Appropriations Committee in Raleigh that writes the budget for mental health services in the state.