Image from Travel DK
Yesterday, Chicago’s public health commissioner announced that the city was closing four mental health centers because of a shortage in state funding.
Many people depend on these facilities for help with severe mental illnesses.
Those who are suffering from life issues like poverty, domestic violence, and drug abuse aren’t able to receive the help they need without these facilities. If people can’t receive help for these problems, it becomes easy for them to end up on the street or eventually have to seek other types of government funding in order to survive. Their mental illness becomes so debilitating that they can’t get jobs, and they can’t lead productive lives.
Without the help of mental health services, many individuals will end up homeless, ultimately affecting the community as a whole. These individuals are losing their emotional and psychological support systems. Being forced to discontinute therapy sessions with counselors who have been so invested in their progression to psychological well-being is a devastating thing.
The closing of mental health facilities in Chicago may help the city save some money in the short term, but I have to argue that the costs will eventually present themselves in the form of crime, domestic violence, and an increase of homeless people on the street.
It frustrates me that social services are always the first thing to be cut when the economy is suffering.
Nice opinion piece and an important issue. This blog really marries your areas of interest. Great job!
I love that you put this post in. It obviously goes with your blog’s topic, but it gives the reader an issue that they can really relate to after reading your other posts. You are going to do great things in the field of psychology. I can tell that you’re passionate.