Our nation’s mental health system is in crisis.
There are currently more than 11 million Americans who suffer from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression, yet a large majority are going without treatment. Our criminal justice system and our jails and prisons are overrun with people affected by mental illness. Families continue to struggle to find care for loved ones and states lack the resources to help those in need.
Twenty-six percent of Americans ages 18 and older have a diagnosable mental illness in a given year. There has been a steady growth in suicide rates each year since 1999, increasing by 25% over the last 15 years.
It is clear in Illinois and across our nation that individuals have been impacted by the lack of available care for mental health. The demand for mental health services has grown steadily, while the programs and policies administering them have become outdated and underfunded.
When we look at the ineffective patchwork of mental health policies and programs across 120 federal government agencies, it doesn’t take much for someone to see that our mental health system is in dire need of an upgrade.
Progress on this issue was made this week when the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed, with my support, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2016. As a cosponsor of this bill, I was encouraged by the strong, bipartisan support it received.
This legislation significantly overhauls our mental health system. It extends mental health programs to our most vulnerable populations, including those in rural communities in the 18th District. It also increases access to doctor partnership programs, expands pediatric services for mental health treatment for our youth and young adults, promotes the use of tele-health medicine, and expands training for mental health professionals.
Further, this legislation includes provisions aimed at addressing mental health in our criminal justice system. As a former State and Federal prosecutor, I have seen firsthand how mental illness has impacted individuals, families, and communities—and severely strained our court system.
Public safety for our families and communities is always our first priority, however, we know that mere incarceration or warehousing of people suffering from mental illness is not a long term solution. Resources should be targeted at prevention and treatment. This legislation calls on the federal government to create a plan to end the incarceration of nonviolent offenders with mental illness by 2026, and use the savings to support community services for people with mental illnesses. This initiative has the potential to decrease our jail and prison population, save taxpayer money, and foster a more appropriate environment for treatment for those serving nonviolent sentences.
Our mental health system is broken. The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2016 is not the end of our work on this issue, but it takes important steps forward and lays a foundation for further conversation and reform. In Congress, I remain committed to ensuring that our mental health programs are effective, efficient, and accountable to taxpayers. The communities of the 18th Congressional District and our entire country deserve access to quality mental health services. The House of Representatives, this week, took a step in the right direction to accomplish this goal.
