Kudos to Victoria Hugo-Vidal (no relation to the author) for her excellent article on Maine’s ongoing mental health crisis (“We can’t keep shrugging our shoulders at mental illness,” Oct. 27). This is a bipartisan issue that continues to plague our state representatives.

Since the early 2010s, there’s been a steady erosion of mental health services; the remaining providers operate on the edge of financial viability. There has been underfunding of much-needed resources every year. The results have been devastating for those desperately in need of services, many of whom languish in emergency rooms for months on end.

Local law enforcement and schools have become de facto mental health providers, which is not their mission or mandate.

Our state reps are quick to give the obligatory lip service to the importance of mental health treatment, but no matter which party is in the majority, the money never comes. One can only surmise that this population is not considered seriously during the budgetary process.

I thank the Press Herald for its ongoing coverage of the issue.

Buckley Hugo
Brunswick