When you write a letter to your
legislators or a letter to the editor, here are some
points you might want to include. Don’t use them all –
remember to keep your letter focused – but here are some
suggestions:
·
Mental illness is treatable, and the vast
majority of people with mental illness respond well to
treatment, and with proper treatment, many can lead full
and productive lives and make positive contributions to
the community.
·
Mental illness is widespread: According
to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 6% of
the US population suffers from severe mental illness;
that’s 1 out of every 17 people.
·
Again according the NIMH, mental illness
is the leading cause of disability among people ages
15-44 in the US.
·
Persons with mental illness are the
largest group receiving Social Security Disability
payments
·
Mental illness is expensive: A
recently released study by
the Milken Institute, shows that mental illness costs
Illinois in terms of lost productivity and treatment
expenditures around $8 billion per year. But with
better treatment and better state support of treatment,
much of the lost productivity won’t be lost at all as
mental patients return to normal life in the community.
·
Many studies show that providing permanent
supportive housing is cost effective: According to the
Corporation for Supportive Housing, it costs essentially
the same amount of money to house someone in stable,
supportive housing as it does to keep that person
homeless and stuck in the revolving door of high-cost
crisis care and emergency housing.
·
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
recently graded the fifty states on the quality of their
mental health programs. Illinois was one of only eight
states to receive a grade of F.
·
According to the NAMI study, which was
based on budget figures provided by the states
themselves, Illinois ranked 34th among the
states in terms of per-capita public spending on mental
health programs. Some figures for comparison --
Illinois spent $66.12 per state resident; Minnesota
spent $119.07; Michigan, $97.97; Wisconsin, $91.01;
Pennsylvania, $195.01; Illinois was even behind
Mississippi which spent $93.49!
·
Thanks to budget cuts in Illinois, some
mental health programs are now having to close down.
