This is the first day of operations for Iowa’s unified system for treatment of mental illnesses and substance abuse, along with services for Iowans with disabilities.
Marissa Eyanson, director of behavioral health for the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, said no service is ending today for any Iowan. “The people that they see, those are all going to continue and everything’s going to stay intact just as it is,” she said. “The other thing that we want folks to know is that we are building something new — system navigation, for instance, where people will have an easy way to reach out to us when they need help or when they don’t know what they need.”
Critics and patient advocates say under the old system, Iowans did not have equal access to services. Thirty-two regions had provided a variety of assistance to Iowans with “behavioral health” issues like depression, anxiety or an addiction to drugs or alcohol. “One of the things we’ve been focused on of course over these last couple of years in particular is really being able to get to people sooner,” Eyanson said,” so we really see this build of system navigation and the access point — the ‘brightly lit’ door of ‘Your Life Iowa‘ — as that access for all Iowans.”…