If territory leaders had embraced the concept of treating Oklahomans in communities where they lived, the mental health system would look much different today. Instead, residents were warehoused in large psychiatric hospitals, and for decades, many communities lacked any available mental health care.
After those hospitals were closed, Oklahoma leaders claimed they would invest in community mental health care. That did not happen.
Instead, in present-day Oklahoma, a fractured, arguably underfunded mental health system is suffocating.
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