Hello,
  I am a citizen advocating for increased funding for mental hospitals to reduce wait time in the ER, increase mental care, receive more qualified workers, and therefore lower the suicide rates we have in Austin. My objective is increasing the funds of mental hospitals to increase worker care, the environment, and general care.

Things already done to help

I do admire what the Austin City Council has done already to help mental health so far, such as creating the first ever Trauma Recovery center in Texas, passing budgets that fully fund the enhancement of 24/7 EMS response, and your efforts to improve 911’s responses to mental health related crises, but I do think there are things to improve.

Evidence

Healthtalk.org, mental health units across the US have a shortage for space, which means people have to wait in an ER room for hours, to even days on end waiting for space to open.

afsp.org, in 2024, 2.2M people attempted suicide and of those people, 48,824 people passed away.

According to the National Library of Medicine, mental hospitals are considered a lower priority for funding, which means they are underfunded and understaffed. 

As someone who has been to a mental hospital before and have known many other people who have also been to a mental hospital, it was a borderline traumatizing situation. There were rude workers, bad sleeping conditions, and after leaving, left me feeling crazy and scared to reach out again. I’ve also gotten similar responses from most people in my community when I asked them how their experiences at a mental hospital were. Many of the people I’ve interviewed admitted lying about their struggles in fear of being placed into a hospital.

Reaching out

I am reaching out to fix what we have and make our mental health system better and healthier for everyone.