Addressing criticism that Cho had slipped through the cracks of the state’s mental health facilities, Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine signed a law on April 9 that clamping down on patients’ ability to buy guns, broadening the standards used to commit individuals against their will, requiring schools to alert parents about dangerous behavior, and boosting the monitoring of patients after their release from state care. A special justice had determined that Cho posed a danger to himself and others in a December 2005 hearing, but no one from the New River Valley Community Services Board (CSB)–the agency tasked with drawing up his post-release treatment plan–was present at the hearing. Just over a year later, Cho was able to buy two handguns, with which he fired the shots that continue to reverberate on campuses and in legislatures throughout the country.
As Virginia Tech marked the anniversary of the tragedy, NEWSWEEK’s Katie Paul checked in with the New River Valley CSB spokesman Mike Wade about how his agency has changed in the year since the massacre first thrust it into the international spotlight. Excerpts:
Newsweek: What major changes has your agency made in the last year in response to the Virginia Tech shooting? Wade: The key legislation that impacted what agencies like ours do in situations similar to the Tech incident [requires] that someone from the Community Services Board be present at all commitment hearings, and that’s something that we had in place prior to the legislation. So, as far as impacting what we’re doing, there hasn’t really been too much change. We do have folks in place at those commitment hearings. Fortunately, the General Assembly also made room for some additional funding for community mental health services that are going to be distributed throughout the state among the 40 CSBs that serve Virginia, and we’ll see a portion of that funding, which will help fund some additional positions. We don’t have the particulars on how that’s going to be broken down yet, but that’s certainly a step in the right direction.
What does that look like on a day-to-day level? We expect those funds to fund an additional clinical position and an additional case management position.
And how would those new positions help prevent something like the shootings from happening again? I don’t think this is something that necessarily could have been prevented. [Cho] was evaluated, [issued a temporary detention order], and committed almost a year and half before the incident took place, and, obviously, someone’s mental health status can change drastically in that period of time. So how do we prevent this kind of thing from happening? We can’t. We put measures in place to make sure we do everything we can on our end to evaluate each person to the best of our ability.
What else still needs to be improved? Like I said, the funding, which I believe is going to be around $42 million, is a step in the right direction, but historically Virginia has not adequately funded community mental-health services. We continue to see a growing demand for services, and to date the resources have not kept up with that level of demand. So, we simply have to figure out a way to do that.
In terms of sharing information between agencies, which seemed to be a problem in the Cho case, do you see improvements that now allow different organizations to know when there might be a problem? In the aftermath of this terrible tragedy, I think communication between agencies has improved. Certainly, the relationships that you build from an event like this are positive. So, the sharing of information has improved. But the confidentiality of the individuals we serve is a cornerstone of the services we provide. If there are concerns about safety, that will be dealt with. But unless there’s a request specifically from an organization like police or investigators, we’re going to protect our client’s confidentiality. It’s just a cornerstone of any health service. It would be the same for a physician’s office.
But this case didn’t involve law enforcement at the outset. What about alerting other officials about potential problems? I think it’s fair to say that when there are concerns about someone’s behavioral health, if they appear to be a threat, then, simply because of what’s happened in the past, that’s probably a little more heavily scrutinized. That’s only natural, in this situation. People have a better sense of things to look for. But I also think it’s important not to automatically put a label on everyone who has mental health issues that says they’re dangerous, because that’s certainly not the case. So it’s ok that we take a closer look at things, but it’s not fair to stigmatize people who have mental health issues and assume they’re a threat to society.
Are you satisfied with this response? Are there any other concrete reforms you’re hoping for? I can tell you as someone who has lived in this area my entire life, the way our community has come together in the aftermath of this tragedy speaks volumes about the people here. I’m happy that we’ve been able to take some of what came out of last April and turn it in into a positive. We’re going to continue to make [our need for funding] a message that we give elected officials. And I think Governor Kaine has shown extraordinary vision and leadership, and the General Assembly has supported him. The $42 million for mental health services in the community is significant.
