Oregon doesn’t have enough treatment or housing for people with mental illness – March 16, 2023

Oregon’s system for people with profound mental illness is broken. Below, we explain the roots of two major problems and explore two promising strategies that could address these issues.

PROBLEM ONE: Some people with the most serious mental illnesses cycle between Oregon’s public psychiatric hospital, county jails and homelessness.

People with serious mental illnesses often receive treatment for a time and then drop out or discontinue it.

Here’s what too frequently happens next: Without treatment, some mentally ill people deteriorate and end up homeless. An arrest – easy to come by when living on the streets – can land them in county jail. Unable to stand trial due to psychosis, they’re sent to the Oregon State Hospital on a court order to be treated….

Read the entire article here.