For Policymakers

Mental illness and addiction impact communities across the country but the current system is not meeting the needs of Americans who need care. 

That’s why we brought together the nation’s leading mental health and addiction advocacy groups. Together, we’ve developed a comprehensive policy platform that policymakers—that’s you!—can reference. Click here to download the full platform.

• 1

  Suicide is the 10^th leading cause of death among American adults

• 2

  More than 1 in 4 adults living with a serious mental health condition also live with addiction

• 3

  In 2017, over 70,000 people died of overdose

• 4

  Untreated mental health conditions cost the country at least $444 billion per year

• 1. Suicide Statistics. (2019, April 16). Retrieved from https://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/

• 2. Any Mental Health (AMI) Among Adults. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2019, from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtml#part_154785

• 3. NCHS, National Vital Statistics System. Estimates for 2018 are based on provisional data. Estimates for 2015-2017 are based on final data. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_public_use_data.htm

• 4. Szabo, L. (2015, January 12). Cost of not caring: Nowhere to go. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/05/12/mental-health-system-crisis/7746535/