March 1, 2011
Those with mental health problems may soon end up in jail or mental hospitals if the state doesn't stop cutting their funds.
That according to local mental health professionals.
Breakthrough Club in downtown Wichita serves hundreds of mentally ill people every year by giving them jobs and helping them become part of the community again.
But Breakthrough has had to drop staff from 45 to just 19, and now, the state wants to cut the mental health budget in half.
"If these services get cut, their options will be jails and the hospitals which are far more expensive to taxpayers and far more detrimental to the individual," said Breakthrough's Dana Ellison.
Ellison said what lawmakers are proposing for mental health services is unethical. Some legislators did however start a mental health caucus to fight for more money for the services.
