Mental health cuts affect thousands locally.
The Florida Legislature’s budget cuts to mental health this fiscal year are a great cause of concern to NAMI Greater Orlando, a grass-roots organization that represents individuals and families affected by mental illness. Considering that one in five Americans lives with a mental-health condition, these cuts will affect thousands of Central Floridians, their families, their neighbors, their schools, their workplaces and their communities.
As Central Florida’s largest provider of free educational classes and support groups for those with mental illness, NAMI Greater Orlando knows all too well the impact of this reduced state funding, which diverts mental-health crises back into our emergency rooms and jails.
Additionally, the cuts should be a red flag to other segments of our community outside the mentalhealth advocacy arena.
For example, untreated mental-health challenges cost businesses money. Mental illness is the No. 1 cause of worker disability in our country. We know that only a third of employees with mental illness seek treatment, according to a 2007 survey of human resources managers by the Partnership for Workplace Mental Health in the United States.
U.S. adults suffering from anxiety disorder experience an average 5.5 work days a month in which they are unable to work or reduce their work hours due to their illness. That loss of productivity affects the bottom lines of the Orlando business community.
Our local businesses that provide transportation for goods or passengers should also be concerned. Drivers with severe depressive symptoms were 4.5 times more likely than others to experience an accident or a near miss in the previous 28 days, according to another study.
Parents should also be concerned about untreated mental illness. We’re seeing rising numbers of Baker Acts being initiated against students in schools throughout Florida. In Orange County alone, there has been an increase of almost 20 percent over the past five years, according to a recent study from the University of South Florida. It’s an issue we’ll be discussing at our statewide annual meeting here in Orlando Friday and Saturday.
Orlando area law-enforcement officers and our local judges know firsthand what happens when individuals do not obtain proper mental-health treatment. Our local jails are the biggest provider of mental-health services, and the tax consequences are astronomical.
The issue of untreated mental illness is so pressing that Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs has created a youth mental-health commission to examine and make recommendations to the local system of care. A 40 percent reduction to Orange County’s Central Receiving Center will put a further strain on our system and lead to additional hardships for family members and caregivers.
We are not willing to let our legislative leaders get by with causing additional harm to Central Floridians by saying this “should not be a shock.” It is already a shock that Florida ranks near the bottom in per-capita mental-health spending, and the latest cuts will just make it worse.
The individuals and families in our community affected by mental illness deserve better from our lawmakers.