I am a concerned mental health provider. I am concerned that the proposed regulation changes will limit clients with no history of hospitilization. We work with clients on coping with their Axis I diagnosis symptoms very frequently so that they can avoid hospitilization. I believe that it is very likely that we will see a spike in heightened symptoms in clients, making it more likely that a lot more people will need to be hospitalized. Without someone to provide skills training for clients during their greatest time of need, I think that a lot of these people who need help the most will not be able to be in the right state of mind and/or think clearly enough to even make it to the hospital!

Please consider what has been going in our state over just the past year concerning those who need help and have not been able to receive it. We have seen firsthand that the outcome is oftentimes nothing short of tragic. I realize that there is a problem with the way some things work and even with how some companies work, but please do not restrict services to everyone because of some people's mistakes. Crack down on those who are being unethical-if you do not, the clients will be the ones who suffer.

Let's be preventative here please, not reactive. We have seen how it works when the only choice is to react.