Below is a summary of recent developments and compelling news stories from across the country highlighting America's broken mental health treatment system and how to fix it.
Treatment Advocacy Center in the News
Cutting Mental Health Services Due to COVID
Treatment Advocacy Center Executive Director John Snook was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article about the loss of mental health services due to COVID."People don’t stop getting sick just because there’s nowhere to treat them,” said Snook. Read more, here.
Walter Wallace Jr. was in a Mental Health Crisis
Treatment Advocacy Center Executive Director John Snook was quoted and our statistics on fatal law enforcement encounters were cited in an article about the death of Walter Wallace Jr. in Philadelphia. Snook told The Philadelphia Inquirer, “It stands to reason that because they have so many interactions with people who are in crisis, all the training in the world can’t solve that problem. What you’re talking about is a medical concern, and law enforcement officers are not the right people to deal with that.” Read more, here.
Q&A with Evelyn Burton
Maryland Advocate and Treatment Advocacy Center board member Evelyn Burton sat down for an interesting and inspiring Q&A about what she has learned during her 20 years as a mental illness policy advocate and why the Treatment Advocacy Center's work is so important. Read her Q&A,here.
Assisted Outpatient Treatment: A Blueprint to Freedom
Advocate Eric Smith shares in his Personally Speaking blog about how assisted outpatient treatment is a blueprint for freedom."When I received AOT, I was regularly involved in decisions about my treatment and care with thanks to my AOT treatment team," writes Smith.
Treatment Advocacy Center's Director of Advocacy, Lisa Dailey, interviewed former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives Mindy Greiling about the broken mental health care system and her new book "Fix What You Can."
$11.4 billion spent for state psychiatric hospitals in 2019
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, more than $11.4 billionwas spent in Fiscal Year 2019 on operating inpatient state psychiatric hospitals. This accounts for 28% of the total state mental health agency expenditures.
Find all of this month's research highlights here.
To receive Research Weekly directly in your email inbox on a weekly basis, click here.
Thank you for all of your continued support of our work. Please donate today.
