While the month of May has been Mental Health Awareness Month for nearly 75 years, things could not be in more disarray at the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS).
As the Oklahoma House of Representatives continues to investigate the department’s massive shortfalls on top of a nearly $610 million budget, glaring issues have been brought to light, including unqualified leadership and tens of millions of dollars in deficit that must be addressed by vote this month. While the department had initially stated there was a $63 million shortfall, it was revised to $43 million due to internal reallocations. However, the department soon admitted to the House last minute on May 2 that it would be unable to make payroll for its 2000+ employees on May 7 after previously assuring there would not be any “cash flow issues before the end of May.” The date has now changed to May 21, and it is merely one part of the ever-changing details.
The initial request for a $6 million+ supplement to make it through FY25 at the end of June has increased to an astonishing $23 million. With House members critical of ODMHSAS’ glaring inefficiencies, one cannot help but ask why the state’s top leadership has not tried to be more involved — except for the fact that Governor Kevin Stitt actively praises Commissioner Allie Friesen as one of his hires and personally came to her defense during the finger-pointing.
Last month, FOX 25 investigated Commissioner Friesen’s credentials and found discrepancies with her licensed professional counselor (LPC) qualifications. While the governor announced her as “a licensed mental health professional since 2014” when she was hired in 2024, the Oklahoma Board of Behavioral Health Licensure showed her LPC as permanently expired on July 1, 2023, after she failed to renew it an entire year after the initial expiration date. Furthermore, Friesen is noted to have continued to use her LPC credential in multiple formats, including her email signature, commissioner business card, ODMHSAS biography, etc. and backed down from interviews regarding its expired status.
Although an LPC is not a required credential to serve as commissioner and Friesen was hired based on her work as Director of Clinical Programs in Behavioral Health at INTEGRIS, it is nevertheless illegal to misrepresent an LPC credential. According to §59- 1911 of the Oklahoma Statues concerning professions and occupations, the false usage of the title of Licensed Professional Counselor is subject to a fine of $100-$500 per offense along with the possibility of imprisonment. When questioned about this, Stitt denied any wrongdoing, saying, “I’m not aware of that situation. … But I haven’t heard that, and am not concerned about it.”
Despite this, Friesen assured all that “the new leadership team at ODMHSAS is committed to transparency and accountability,” and said, “The department is working with the governor’s office, OMES and the Legislature, and they are confident that no services will be interrupted and all team members will be paid on time.”
However, when asked about “mismanagement,” Friesen said under oath, “I cannot respond to that specific question due to multiple ongoing, pending investigations. … These are investigations that are ongoing under the (ODMHSAS) Inspector General’s Office.”
Since then, Inspector General Dewayne Moore resigned from the position, thanking Friesen and ODMHSAS leadership for their service and leaving the internal investigations in a state the House calls “worrisome.” Having previously ousted the old guard of ODMHSAS, the governor ironically spoke about how “you’re seeing the bureaucracy kick and scream as [Friesen] is actually putting a spotlight on this stuff. … Let’s see where all of the mice scatter to.” Bear in mind, when Friesen blamed the state of the department on the previous leadership of the last five years, Stitt had also been governor since 2019. If these financial problems are due to an unhealthy relationship with manipulative health providers and “cozying up to the vendors,” as the governor put it, where was he when things have fallen into disarray under his neglectful watch during what he called “years of mismanagement”?
While Gov. Stitt has announced appointing a special investigator to look into the department, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond called for Friesen’s immediate termination.
“The financial meltdown at the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services is nothing short of government malpractice,” Drummond said in a statement from May 2. “Gov. Stitt should have fired his failed agency head months ago when we first learned of her incompetent leadership.”
Lashing back, Stitt accused Drummond of abusing his position by going after those “targeted as political enemies” while comparing Friesen and her work to President Trump’s in an allusion to “draining the swamp.”
Knowledge deficit
During the House investigations, ODMHSAS has repeatedly shown that its incompetence stems from a lack of understanding, qualification and perhaps even corruption. Most notably, interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Skip Leonard was unable to answer basic questions or provide plans or examples of how to address the ever-growing financial issue under his watch. Despite having been aware of the dire financial situation since at least Feb. 21, Leonard did not address the crisis and instead said he did not receive any “formal training” as a former “executive partnership consultant” despite currently receiving a wage of $165/hour ($343,000 annually). He’s facing scrutiny within the House.
“Respectfully, Mr. Leonard, do you recognize your lack of knowledge and skill?” Rep. Ellyn Hefner (D-Oklahoma City) asked. “Why would you stay in this position, with all these months going by, making critical decisions that have definitely hit providers in our district?”
As time goes on, the House has continued to slam agency leadership.
“The situation at ODMHSAS is not an isolated oversight,” Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton (R-Tuttle) wrote in an email to the Senate. “It is just the latest in a long line of failures, and we are left with yet another multimillion-dollar disaster dumped at the feet of the Legislature and, ultimately, the taxpayers of Oklahoma.”
NonDoc reported that House Appropriations and Budget Committee Chairman Trey Caldwell (R-Lawton) said, “The deeper we dig into the Oklahoma DMHSAS, the more we realize that they lack a basic understanding on governmental accounting principles, and it seems they were using statutorily obligated funds for whatever they wanted.”
Of course, the greatest issue with the state of ODMHSAS is not just the financial deficit but the lack of treatment and services being provided to Oklahomans because of it. As current leadership attempts to cut off vendors and health providers, renege payments and burn bridges, the ones most actively harmed by this are Oklahoma’s most vulnerable and those trying to help them.
The agency’s own website states, “Oklahoma has some of the highest rates for mental illness and substance use disorders.” Based on 2020 data, Oklahoma ranks 5th (25.6%) in the nation for rates of any mental illness, any substance abuse disorders is 16.1%. Between 700,000-950,000 adult Oklahomans need services. Approximately 180,000 Oklahomans received ODMHSAS services in FY21.
With only a quarter of those suffering from mental illness and substance abuse actually receiving care before the brunt of the financial crisis, one cannot help but wonder about the ripple effects that this financial folly will have on the lives of fellow Okies.
This article appears in Summer Guide 2025.