Behavioral health care belongs in the same conversation as roads, schools and utilities.
In a new op-ed for the Tri-City Herald, Comprehensive Healthcare CEO Jodi Daly argues that the recent opening of the Columbia Valley Center for Recovery (CVCR) does more than close a longstanding gap in local treatment options. It strengthens the economic foundation of the entire Tri-Cities region.
As Daly explains, when people can access timely mental health and substance use care, they are more likely to stay employed, remain housed and support their families. When that care is out of reach, the cost does not disappear. It shows up later in emergency rooms, workplaces and public systems already stretched thin.
The op-ed also points to the economic weight of the nonprofit behavioral health sector itself. Daly cites a national report showing the nonprofit sector contributes more than $1.5 trillion to the U.S. economy, more than 5% of GDP. Locally, CVCR alone adds nearly 150 new full-time positions to the Tri-Cities, jobs Daly says the region urgently needs.
Daly credits the facility to years of partnership among Comprehensive Healthcare, Benton County and the Benton Franklin Recovery Coalition, and calls on local leaders and policymakers to keep building on that momentum through sustained investment in workforce development and funding.
Read the full op-ed from the Tri-City Herald here.
