Chicago has a mental health crisis. Reopening 6 clinics isn't enough.

[mopinko]

This is a public health challenge we cannot afford to ignore. Mental health conditions are more common than breast cancer or diabetes. Just 50 percent of adults experiencing severe psychological distress received any treatment in 2017. Those statistics don’t take into consideration the thousands of people — our neighbors — who are suffering from trauma and grief, violence, drugs, and food and housing insecurity. It affects residents from West Ridge to Roseland and from Austin to the Loop. It affects older adults, office workers and, in growing numbers, our children.

Ignoring their common struggle is morally unacceptable. It is also costly. Many people who are living with mental illness end up in emergency rooms and interacting with law enforcement. How desperate is it? Our 911 system is effectively the central intake line for mental health needs.

The burden is felt by their relatives, who are forced to navigate a byzantine system looking for help, but also by first responders, teachers, Chicago Park District and CTA employees who are called on regularly to go far beyond their scope of work. This is the system we’ve paid for.

It doesn’t work.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-mental-health-clinics-reopen-crisis-city-council-0123-20190122-story.html?fbclid=IwAR104o5K9Gp225eo9P4iChOxwf5NtzrgSzfJYSkFs3R4TP-addo2H5WoC6w


we are on the verge of a bit of a wave here in chi.
this is very much an issue.
it will be interesting to watch.