CINCINNATI — Nearly 1.9 million adults in Ohio have a mental health condition according to data from the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Funding is needed across the state to help people in need.

What You Need To Know

  • A renewal of the mental health levy is on the November ballot in Hamilton County

  • Prevention, counseling and residential treatment are just some of many services it will help fund

  • If passed the levy is expected to bring in $45 million annually

  • The current mental health levy is costing taxpayers $40 per 100,000 in home value

Bill Brown will never forget the year 2007, because he had his first ever psychotic episode while traveling for work.

“It completely shook my foundation,” Brown said. “I had to figure out how to get healthy first of all and how to get back into society.”

When he returned from his trip, he checked himself into a hospital. That is when he was diagnosed with Bipolar I and Psychosis. But getting help was not easy.

“I fell through the cracks,” he said. “I had a great job, I had a great career, I had a lot of money, but when my Cobra ran out. I had nothing. I was stuck with Medicare and I couldn’t get the services that I needed.”

Then he went to the Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services, an organization that provides mental health, psychiatric and addiction services. He was connected with a psychiatrist, case manager and a therapist.

“I would not be here without those people on my side,” he said. “And I wouldn’t have access to that without the mental health levy.”

A renewal of the Mental Health Levy is on the ballot in Hamilton County. Prevention, counseling and residential treatment are just some of many services it will help fund.

“This mental health levy is really the safety net for those who are indigent, who don’t have insurance, who don’t know where to turn,” said Linda Gallagher, The Hamilton County Mental Health & Recovery Services VP. “It’s critical for health of our community.”

If passed, the levy is expected to bring in $45 million annually. The current levy brings in a little more than $36 million annually. Gallagher said it will put many lives in jeopardy if the levy doesn’t pass.

“Those 35 programs that I was talking about - those agencies that receive these funds will have to close their doors because they won’t have the funding to pay the staff to provide those services,” Gallagher said.

The current mental health levy is costing taxpayers $40 per 100,000 in home value. The renewal will cost them $13.

“For my house, I’ll be paying $26.66 extra a year in taxes,” Brown said. “$27 saved my life. 27 bucks saved my life. That’s what we’re asking people to do.”

For more information on Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services, click here.