About Budget Cuts

I have lived with mental illness for most of my life.  As I have struggled, I am lucky to have lived as long as I have.

The public has been concerned about recent acts of violence, even the killing little children.  The assailants were not in the mental health system, but they probably should have been.

Mental Illness is not going away, but it is treatable.  The treatment needs to be available for the people who dream up these horrible tragedies before they happen.  It is hard for young people to admit they have a problem.  It is even harder for them to ask for help.  Turning them away doesn't help anything.

There used to be a place in Midvale called ITU.  It was a residential and crisis center.  A lot of people went there usually because they were severely troubled.  One evening when I was hanging around ITU, I noticed a young girl.  She was about twenty years old, with long brown hair, very pretty.  She was trying to tell everyone that she wanted to die.  The crisis worker thought that she wanted constant attention and believed that ignoring her would be therapeutic.  I looked out the window and noticed that she was walking away.  I told a crisis worker, he said, "Let her go."  The next morning we found out that she had gone to a friends home, borrowed a gun and killed herself.

When we make cuts to mental health and close programs, we are saying, "Let them go."

This is not a good time to cut funding for mental health.  Are we more concerned about money than we are  people?