Living with Serious Mental Illness

The impact of stigma specific to mental illness is exacerbated by poverty.

Some people with SMI, by virtue of their disabilities, lack a health safety net because governments lack commitment to those from this economic class.

Poverty is worsened by ethnicity and discrimination.

Communities of color often find the breadth and depth of clinics and services that fully support health and wellness absent.

In addition, communities of color cannot avail themselves of the kind of culturally sensitive strategies required to meet the needs and expectations of these communities.

With poverty and discrimination come the insidious effects of homelessness and crime.

Many people with SMI and of color lack stable housing and are often exposed to health challenges that result from living on the streets.

Others are victims of crime, often violent and sometimes family based, that interferes with health care.

Still others are convicted of crime and involved in the criminal justice system-police, courts, jail, prison, probation, and parole-and are confronted with the challenges involvement with this system brings to rightful health care.