Living with Mental Illness

It is estimated that over 57.7 million individuals experience a diagnosable mental disorder each year. Despite this large number, mental illness is often misunderstood. We hope you will find our Fact Sheet and Resource Links helpful in understanding more about mental illness and how it affects us all.

Transitional Resources...Did you know?

Mental Illness, How Does It Affect Me?

• Mental illness is an equal opportunity disease, affecting people regardless of their background, ethnic identity, or economic status.
• Over the course of a lifetime, 1 in 5 Americans will experience a mental illness. Of those affected, 25% will be classified as having a serious mental illness.
• Nationwide, less than 40% of people with severe and persistent mental illness receive adequate care in a given year.
• Washington State ranks the lowest in per capita spending on mental health in the country. Consequently, the need for funding from individual and community donors is great.
• Rates of mental illness among the homeless population are high with estimates being 40%. Approximately 2,075 people with mental illness are homeless in King County on any night. The stresses of homelessness increase symptoms of mental illness.

Why We Need Places Like TR…

• Transitional Resources is one of the smallest licensed mental health centers in King County, offering a continuum of mental health treatment, housing, and vocational services to those who are most in need.
• With appropriate treatment, people with mental illness can recover and lead better lives. Treatment in the community is not only more humane, it is also significantly more cost effective than treating mental illness in jails, emergency rooms, or state hospitals.
• The cost of providing the most intensive services for a year at Transitional Resources is $39,060 as compared to $146,000 for a year in the state mental health hospital.

How Does TR Help The Community?

• In order to provide effective, highly individualized care, the caseload size at TR is small and significantly lower than larger mental health centers. This allows TR to produce some of the best outcomes in King County, such as:
• Extremely low rates of homelessness. In fact, no TR clients were homeless in 2006. This is significant, as the majority of clients were homeless prior to coming to TR.
• The highest rate of employment for mental health consumers in King County, despite serving some of the most challenging cases.
• Rates of hospitalization and incarceration below 3% with the vast majority of clients not experiencing any re-hospitalization.

Resource Links

Local:
NAMI Greater Seattle: www.nami-greaterseattle.org
Crisis Clinic: www.crisisclinic.org
King County Department of Community and Human Services: Mental Health Chemical Abuse and Dependency Services Division: www.metrokc.gov/dchs/mhd
United Way of King County: www.uwkc.org
Washington Community Mental Health Council: www.wcmhcnet.org

National:
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill: www.nami.org
National Institute of Mental Health: www.nimh.nih.gov
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: www.samhsa.gov

Resource links are provided for information only. Transitional Resources takes no responsibility for their content, claims or representations in these sites.

For more information on Transitional Resources services, contact (206) 883-2051 or www.transitionalresources.org