Mental Health for Chicagoans? Faggedaboudit

 

Mental Health for Chicagoans? Faggedaboudit

 

On reviewing Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first proposed budget, one item shocked me. Johnson was planning to reopen 2 of the 6 city mental health centers that former Mayor Emanuel closed in 2012. Those 6 represented half of Chicago’s 12 mental health facilities. Why? Rahm chose to close the budget deficit on the backs of the mentally ill, the consequences to them and Chicago at large be damned.

Mental health facilities should have been among the last city services cut back or closed. For the past 11 years those facilities remained closed under both Emanuel and successor Lorie Lightfoot. Result? Cook County Sherriff Tom Dart has called his jail “One of the largest mental health facilities in the country.” He estimates that at least a third of his 7,000 inmates suffers mental illness.

That begs the question. How many of the mentally inflicted committed suicide, died by other mental illness causes, lost their job, became wards of the state, committed crimes simply from the lack of available mental health help?

 

A truly humane society would benefit immensely by making mental health easy and affordable to all. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all 50 Chicago wards had a mental health facility?

 

Kudos to Johnson for his small step expanding mental health services to challenged Chicagoans and pledging to reopen the remaining 4 closed facilities. Let’s hope the Mayor keeps his campaign promise…even expanding beyond the former dozen.