Mental Health

Community Services Board & Subcommittees

The mission of the Oneida County Department of Mental Health Community Services Board (CSB) is to represent our community by participating in the process of creating and monitoring a comprehensive and integrated system of community mental hygiene services - including those relevant to mental health, intellectual/developmental disability and substance use for all residents of Oneida County. This is accomplished by advising the Oneida County Mental Health Commissioner on issues pertaining to the management and oversight of these services.

The Board is to be well informed and utilize its statutory authority to access information in order to assist in the analysis of program and fiscal issues to determine if a program/service is providing a high quality of care, and if it is efficiently using public and private resources. This results in a more coordinated and accessible system which encourages local accountability.

To become more effective at representing the community in the present circumstances, the CSB needs to do three things:

Keep ourselves well-informed about the developing situation. To do this, we will need to use our statutory authority to develop and implement a specific plan for what we need to know, how we are going to find it out, and from whom.
Raise the awareness of all groups in the community likely to be affected by the changes -including current and potential clients, agency staff, professionals, and taxpayers -about what is at stake, both in general and in regard to specific developments. This may mean holding public hearings, writing letters to the newspaper, informing elected officials, and encouraging more effective press coverage of system-related developments.
Evaluate proposed changes to the mental hygiene system in relation to the following questions:
- Does the proposal defend the quality of care?
- Does the proposal result in more efficient use of public and private resources?
- Would the proposal result in a more unified and accessible system?
- Does the proposal encourage local accountability?

Subcommittees

The Community Services Board oversees multiple Subcommittees, tailored to specific areas: Mental Health Subcommittee, Alcohol & Other Drugs Subcommittee, and the Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities Subcommittee. The Board and the Subcommittees all strive to align themselves with State regulations and produce as much change as possible.