News and Commentary from the

Treatment Advocacy Center

August 2021

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

Mental Health Crises Need Mental Health Responses

Treatment Advocacy Center's Acting Executive Director appeared on CBS This Morning to discuss whether police should handle mental health calls, after a sheriff's deputy in Texas violently restrained 18-year-old Nekia Trigg during a mental health crisis. Watch the whole segment here.

California's Struggle with Treating and Housing People with SMI

Treatment Advocacy Center's research on bed shortages was cited and Director of Research Elizabeth Sinclair Hancq was quoted in an AP story on California's struggle treating and housing people with SMI. The article was also picked up in the Washington Post and ABC News. Read more h ere.

Intersection of Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness

Treatment Advocacy Center Acting Executive Director Lisa Dailey was interviewed for an article about the intersection of homelessness and severe mental illness. Treatment Advocacy Center's 2016 paper on why the number of unhoused people with SMI is undercounted is also mentioned. Read more here.

Educating the Public About Good Policy

We continue to educate the public about policies that would help loved ones with severe mental illness. This month, Policy Director Brian Stettin spoke at the 2021 NAMI Alabama Annual Meeting about the need to reform Alabama's civil commitment laws.

Also this month, Brian Stettin spoke on a panel hosted by New Orleans-based advocacy group Healing Minds NOLA, on changes to Louisiana's assisted outpatient treatment law. Treatment Advocacy Center advised the state's legislature to pass changes to its AOT law, making AOT programs more readily available for those in need of them.

RESEARCH WEEKLY: August 2021 Recap

DATAPOINT of the month

51% of Hispanic individuals with co-occurring serious mental illness and substance use disorder received treatment

Half of individuals who have a co-occurring serious mental illness and substance use disorder who identify as Hispanic received any type of mental health treatment in 2019, according to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. This is compared to 69% for individuals who identify as white. For more data and research on racial disparities in people with serious mental illness and substance use disorders, see our Fact Sheet which we also just released in Spanish.

Find all of this month's research highlights here.

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