Welcome to

The apparent suicide of legendary actor robin Williams has sparked the debate for mental health funding here in Florida. As Matt Galka tells us, Florida is typically near the bottom nationally for basic mental health services funding.

Mental health funding in Florida is woeful, with the state ranking 49^th nationally.

The Florida Council for Community Mental Health is one of many statewide organizations that could use more funding.  They say many people waiting for services wind up in other bad situations.

“We’ve been working very closely lately with the sheriff’s and the counties and what we’re finding is that many of the folks that probably should be treated in mental health centers end up in jails or otherwise in the law enforcement community and that’s very problematic,” said Mike Hansen with the Council.

The council says their 50 plus statewide community agencies are about 500 million dollars short of providing all the services they need to.

The council hopes that the apparent suicide of Robin Williams and other high profile tragedies serve as a wake up call for people who don’t see mental healthcare as an every day problem.

Florida became the first state to start rolling out a new Medicaid plan earlier this year that covers people with chronic and severe mental illness. About 140,000 low-income Floridians are eligible.