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Governmental semantics, Greene County-style

Feb 09, 2011 6:34 am
The Daily Mail's Colin DeVries has a story about how Greene County has retreated from a renaming of its mental health facility to the “Greene County Center for Behavioral Wellness” after about a year of the new title. The facility is again called the Greene County Mental Health Center, and Director Margaret Graham is quoted saying that the name change, approved by county lawmakers in January 2010, was originally part of a “stigma campaign” designed to redefine the image of mental health treatment. In a new resolution presented to the county health committee Monday, February 7, it was stated that, “It has become apparent that many people, staff and patients alike, do not find the new name appealing or representative of the services being provided.” Graham, who was not director of the department at the time of the change, said the name “doesn’t lend itself well to the services that we provide... our patients don’t understand it." The resolution will be voted on by the full Greene County Legislature at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 16.