Healthy Minds finds gaps in Oklahoma City mental‑health system; plan due this spring
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Summary
A city‑commissioned assessment presented by Healthy Minds Policy Initiative found mismatches between need and services in Oklahoma City — low treatment rates for serious mental illness, sparse community‑based intensive services, and high ER use — and said a formal plan will be delivered this spring.
Oklahoma City received a data‑driven assessment on its mental‑health system on Tuesday, with the Healthy Minds Policy Initiative warning that residents with serious mental illness and substance‑use disorders are not getting care in the right places.
"We have a mismatch and a misalignment of services," Zach Stoikoff, president and CEO of Healthy Minds, told the council during a presentation introduced by Andrea Grayson of the city's Public Safety Partnership. Stoikoff said only about 31% of Oklahoma City residents with serious mental illness are receiving appropriate treatment and that parts of the continuum — community‑based intensive services that sit between outpatient therapy and inpatient beds — are largely missing.
The assessment found emergency departments are absorbing far more behavioral‑health visits than appropriate, and that few eligible residents receive evidence‑based services: "of about 15,000 residents in Oklahoma City with an opioid‑use disorder, only about 4% are receiving medications for opioid use disorder through the traditional safety‑net system," Stoikoff said.
Stoikoff said Healthy Minds convened dozens of partners, reviewed Medicaid, jail and hospital data, and identified five implementation priorities, including removing structural barriers to care, diverting people from ERs and jails to appropriate services, and investing in children and youth. "We expect to have a formal plan this spring," he said, adding the initiative will serve as a backbone convener while assigning accountability to participating organizations.
Council members asked how Healthy Minds will engage schools and target high‑need ZIP codes. Stoikoff said OKCPS and school leaders have been part of work groups and that the plan will include short‑ and long‑term goals and strategies for drawing federal and philanthropic dollars to areas identified as high need. The presentation emphasized that the effort is multiyear and that some interventions will be incremental: "slow and steady wins the race," Stoikoff said.
Next procedural step: city staff and Healthy Minds will present the formal implementation plan when it is ready in the spring, with council members asking for follow‑up on school outreach and geographic targeting.
