Advocates for Mentally Ill Ask Massachusetts Lawmakers for $300M for Housing, Treatment Services

A group of 500 people with mental illnesses and their advocates marched on Oct. 2 to the Massachusetts state House to ask lawmakers to include $288 million in next year's state budget for adult mental health, statewide homeless services and child and family mental health programs, the Boston Globe reports. Organized with help from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, marchers were joined by state Sen. Sue Tucker (D), state Rep. David Sullivan (D) and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (D). According to the march's organizers, a "lack of funding" and "inadequate resources" have created "an overload" of mental health cases, leaving thousands of patients on waiting lists. The "lack of interest" shown by the government is "discourag[ing]," Lauri Leeds, a social worker in Weymouth, Mass., said. She added, "Our job is to serve people. The lack of funding makes us feel disempowered." Carla Van Loon, assistant programming director for the Crossroads Clubhouse, said low pay for health workers is contributing to the problem, noting that employee turnover rates at her clinic are "unreasonably high." She added, "It pays better to work at Burger King or McDonald's than it does to work with people" (Duran, Boston Globe, 10/3).