An Interview With Commissioner Peet: Mental Health System Reform

Abstract

Commissioner of the Maine Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Melodie Peet, stands at the center of a revolution in how mental health services are organized, administered, and delivered. Since February, 1995 Peet has been working with providers, families, and consumers throughout Maine to reinvent the state’s mental healthcare system from one that is dominated by state government and large institutions to one largely comprised of community-based systems of care. These changes match national trends yet have stirred great controversy in Maine. In an interview with Maine Policy Review, Commissioner Peet discussed the changing role and shape of her department as well as articulated a new vision for Maine’s mental healthcare system, one focused on the integration of services, local governance, and shared decision-making between providers, consumers, families, and state government.