For our most up-to-date information on #aBedInstead, please visit abedinstead.org
It’s getting harder and harder to find a psychiatric hospital bed for people in a crisis – our nation’s psychiatric bed shortage has left the most severely ill with nowhere to go.
What does that mean for someone who needs care? Our failed mental health treatment system now substitutes appropriate inpatient psychiatric care with a revolving door jails, prisons, emergency rooms, homeless shelters and a long list of other consequences.
People with severe mental illness and their families deserve better than this; they need #aBedInstead.
- A BED INSTEAD OF JAIL. There are now 10x more people with severe mental illness behind bars than receiving treatment in a hospital.
- A BED INSTEAD OF BEING HOMELESS. People with untreated psychiatric illnesses comprise at least one-third, of the estimated 600,000 homeless population.
- A BED INSTEAD OF DYING BY SUICIDE. Suicide is the number one cause of premature death among people with schizophrenia, with an estimated 5 percent ending their own lives. Similarly, women with bipolar disorder are 10 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population and men were 9 times more likely.
- A BED INSTEAD OF BEING VICTIMIZED. People with untreated severe mental illness are especially vulnerable. They are at increased risk of being assaulted, raped or even victims of homicide.
- A BED INSTEAD OF BEING KILLED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT. People with severe mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed during a police encounter than other civilians approached or stopped by law enforcement.
The Treatment Advocacy Center is campaigning to end this injustice.
TOGETHER, WE WILL:
- BRING ATTENTION to the causes and devastating consequences of our national psychiatric bed shortage;
- REFORM POLICIES at the state and federal levels that created and perpetuate this crisis;
- INCREASE THE AVAILABLE NUMBER of psychiatric beds for people with severe mental illness; and
- ENSURE ACCESS for people to have #aBedInstead.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
- LEARN about the psychiatric bed crisis and what policy changes can be made to help.
- EDUCATE your policymakers on the issue, and tell them we need to increase access to inpatient psychiatric care.
- VOICE the need for more beds with your followers and federal, state and local policymakers on social media. Use the hashtag #aBedInstead.