Editor's note: Mental Health Musings (MHM) will focus on community resources and stories throughout the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing protests against police brutality.

The $900 billion stimulus package became law after months of contentious debates in Congress.

The bill includes a $600 stimulus check to qualified Americans (the second stimulus check since the start of the pandemic), extending unemployment benefits, funding for schools, a boost to vaccine distribution, and $4.25 billion for mental health and substance use disorders.

Throughout the pandemic, mental and behavioral health needs have surged — both nationally and in Western New York. Three counties in the region reported an increase in opioid deaths by overdoses and more Americans screen positive for symptoms of depression and anxiety than before.

It did not include funding for local and state governments — many of which face a deficit including New York.

The state projects an $8.7 billion budget deficit for the fiscal year, which starts in April 2021. 

While Erie County’s budget for mental and substance use for the next fiscal year remains relatively the same, New York has withheld spending on mental health and substance use by 20 percent with the exception being residential treatment facilities, Mark O'Brien, Erie County commissioner of Mental Health, said. 

“That’s cash that’s not coming through the door and even if it comes in later, you’re still trying to meet payroll now or to continue to provide services,” O’Brien said.  

The Erie County Department of Mental Health does not provide services directly with the exception of the Department of Forensic Mental Health at the local jails. Instead, it oversees the service providers in the area, almost all of which are nonprofits.

The withholdings are done on a quarterly basis. The first quarter of 2021 (January through March) funding for mental and behavioral health services has already been impacted. 

Many nonprofits have coped with this by not filling vacant positions or scaled back on the resources they provide, said O’Brien. 

Details of the $4.2 billion allotted by the new stimulus bill are still emerging, but advocates fear that the funding will be used to make up for the cuts in state funding.