After 24 years working for the Missouri Department of Mental Health, this is Director Mark Stringer’s last week on the job. He will be retiring from the state agency serving about 170-thousand Missourians with mental illness, developmental disabilities, and substance use disorders. While reflecting on the changes throughout the years, Stringer says treatment for substance use disorders is much different and much more effective than when he first started.

 

Stringer says he is most proud of his roughly 75-hundred workers and the roughly 30-thousand contracted community workers – who he says are underpaid for the challenging work they do.