Advocates are calling on the Ohio Senate to restore $36 million in funding for mental health and suicide prevention before they pass the state budget. That money was in the House budget but was cut in the Senate version.
“Cutting the budget is like denying antibiotics after an infection," said Wesley Walker, who attempted suicide seven years ago after after years of untreated mental illness.
The Senate’s budget removes $18 million for mental health treatment and prevention for children and up to $18 million for anti-stigma and prevention campaigns.
Sandy Linehan’s son Russell died by suicide in 2012 when he was 23. Linehan said that money is important to treat people with mental illness, but also to change people's attitudes about it.
“So many people think, ‘Oh, it’s the other guy,’ or, ‘I know somebody, a neighbor whose cousin had issues.’ No, there’s a lot more people – 1 out of 5," Linehan said.
The National Institute of Mental Health estimates 1-in-5 people, or nearly 47 million Americans, experience mental illness each year.
The Centers for Disease Control says Ohio’s suicide rate soared 36% from 1999 to 2016. State stats show almost five Ohioans a day are lost to suicide.
