This idea of an overwhelmed mental health system isn't hyperbole. As The Post and Courier’s Nick Reynolds reports, the number of court-ordered mental competency examinations the S.C. Department of Mental Health handles each year grew from 964 in the 2021 fiscal year to 1,340 just three years later, resulting in ever-longer pre-trial waits in jail for people charged with crimes. And that trickles up and down. Last year, the agency started transferring some stable forensic patients to its civil facilities — the type of move that alarmed Ms. Barber — to free up space for all the patients the courts keep sending it. It also reduces the capacity for voluntary and even involuntary commitments. This year, the Legislature finally merged the departments of Mental Health, Disabilities and Special Needs and Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services into a new Department of Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, which over time should eliminate the compartmentalization and buck-passing that has made it difficult for people to get needed services without a court order. Lawmakers also increased Mental Health’s budget by about 7 percent to help address the meteoric rise in forensic cases it can’t turn away. But while that’s all the agency asked for this year, it’s not all it needs. Its budget was hollowed out during what some refer to as the Great Recession, and funding was never adequate even before that: It’s been under court monitoring of its forensic delays in admission for more than 20 years. Money won’t solve all of our problems; as Ms. Barber’s letter suggests, we need other changes to help prevent tragedies like hers, and then to protect us all after the fact. But as with families who need to buy groceries and pay for electricity and water and housing, money often is an essential ingredient in the solution.