Brandon Johnson: My brother Leon would have lived longer if he had received the mental health care he needed
When I think about the mental health crisis in Chicago, I think of my brother Leon. He was a loving husband and father and a brilliant musician, but he struggled mightily with mental illness for much of his life. Tragically, he died addicted and unhoused.
I also think about my daughter Braedyn. In particular, I think about a conversation we had when she was 7 years old. We were navigating life during the COVID-19 pandemic. I was trying to explain something to her and thought I was being clear when she suddenly said: “Daddy, you’re triggering me.”
At first, I was taken aback. I would have never thought to talk to my parents that way. But when I reflected on the interaction, I realized how important it was that she had the language to express how she was feeling in that moment.
I believe my brother’s time on this earth would have been extended if he had the language to express what he needed, or the mental health care that he needed. Leon and Braedyn are why, for me, this work is personal.
That is why a year ago, I made it a priority to assemble a working group of city officials, community organizers and mental health care advocates to put together a road map for how we can expand mental health care services in Chicago. I tasked them with putting forward a bold vision to transform Chicago’s mental health care infrastructure, while being mindful of the budgetary and operational constraints of our current system, which has been degraded after more than three decades of cuts, privatization and neglect.
Like so many other problems that plague our city, these decades of neglect are felt the hardest in our most disenfranchised communities. More than 65% of Black and brown Chicagoans with serious psychological distress are currently not receiving any treatment in our city. We estimate the total number of Chicagoans experiencing serious psychological distress has jumped to upward of 239,000 in recent years. That is a crisis.
June is Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, and we recognize that this crisis hits men particularly hard. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that men make up almost 80% of all cases of death by suicide, and evidence suggests that men are more likely to engage in substance abuse and alcohol dependency.
Every day, Chicagoans see our neighbors in need in our communities, on our public transportation and throughout our city without a clear, accessible pathway to get the care that they need.
The crisis is especially acute in our young people who are increasingly dealing with severe mental illness. A recent survey of 1,400 clinicians on the youth mental health crisis found that cost and insurance were the biggest obstacles to care. Providing free mental health care through city-run clinics would allow us to provide care for our young people in need.
The need for this type of generational transformation in our mental health care infrastructure is long overdue. In 1987, under Mayor Harold Washington, Chicago had 19 city-run mental health centers and a Chicago alcohol treatment center. Today, we have five. We are a world-class city. Our people deserve a world-class mental health care system.
It is with that vision in mind that I am proud to announce that my administration is taking the first step toward rebuilding our city’s public mental health care infrastructure by reopening the shuttered mental health care clinic in Roseland. By starting on the Far South Side, we are making clear to the people of Chicago that we are prioritizing those who have been left behind and discarded by previous administrations.
Because of the urgency of this crisis, we are also taking immediate steps to expand access to mental health care to other parts of our city. We are adding mental health services at a city-run clinic in Pilsen, and adding services at the Legler Regional Library in West Garfield Park. The report issued by the Mental Health Service Expansion working group will act as our North Star as we work to expand services across our entire city.
Our vision is clear: to provide care for those who need it. I will continue to keep the memory of my brother Leon in my heart this month and beyond as we work to rebuild our city’s mental health care infrastructure.
Brandon Johnson is the mayor of Chicago.
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