Legislator sees a personal side to mental health cuts

As a mental health advocate who has lived with depression for 25 years, Rep. Anne Donahue thought few cost-saving plans could unsettle her more than a suggested 20 percent cut to Vermont's $55 million adult psychiatric budget. Then state leaders unveiled a different proposal, "Challenges for Change," that calls for a sweeping streamlining of government, including the entire Department of Mental Health. As a Republican representative for Moretown, Northfield and Roxbury, she understands the need to balance the state's budget, which is facing a $150 million shortfall. But as editor of Vermont Psychiatric Survivors' Counterpoint newspaper, she's already reporting the possible impact on the public of reductions in mental health services.

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