the Well is a “community”, as reflected in our name, but more importantly in our philosophy.  We are a people committed to bringing love and health to adults recovering from serious mental illness.  Without the Well, many of our Community Members would have no other place to turn for such assistance.

Texas has long been known as a place of opportunity; however for someone suffering with severe mental illness it can be one of the hardest states in the nation in which to live.  Texas is perennially ranked near the bottom in per capita mental health spending (currently 49th out of 50 states) with only 23% of Texans needing mental health treatment able to get it, and most areas having long waiting lists (Simmons, Tim. Texas' Mental health system is broken. The Dallas Morning News. April 29, 2007).  In a recent national survey conducted by the National Alliance on Mental illness, Texas’ mental health system received a grade of “D” (NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness, Grading the States 2009).

In particular, Dallas’ mental health care system is now in serious peril.  In 2006, the north Texas region had approximately 762,000 persons with a mental illness, representing a 17.6% increase in the number of persons with a serious mental illness in just four years (United Way of Metropolitan Dallas.  2008 UWMD Community Needs Assessment: Health).  The NorthSTAR program provides the region’s managed mental health care.  In the last ten years, the number of clients in the system has skyrocketed by 90%, but funding has risen only 60% during the same timeframe.  According to ValueOptions of Texas Inc., a for-profit company that runs the North Texas region's mental health program, there has been a 30 percent increase in demand for public mental health services since January 2008.  Yet, despite the escalation in need, funding for such programs continues to be scaled back.

Therefore, with a debilitating brain disorder, those with mental illness are expected to secure adequate housing, maintain relationships with family, balance their finances, navigate the public system for resources, attend to their daily needs, utilize public transportation, remain compliant with their medications, and the list could go on.  Unfortunately, most are unable to maintain these responsibilities on their own, with seemingly insignificant and trivial circumstances proving disastrous.  Thereby, local jails, emergency rooms, and homeless shelters are carrying a burden they were not set up to address.

the Well is one of the few organizations in the DFW metroplex placing strong emphasis on holistic recovery and empowering those with severe mental illness.  While we offer emergency assistance in the form of food and clothes, our interventions help take our clients beyond base needs to a real place of stability and health.  This emphasis helps keep our Community Members out the hospitals and jails and off the streets, thus minimizing the impact upon our city’s strained public system.  Without our critical care, many of our Community Members would have no place to turn for assistance. 

We serve some of the neediest members of our society.  Our Community Members have diagnosable, severe, and persistent mental illnesses including major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or other major mental disorders that require crisis resolution and ongoing intervention.  These illnesses affect their physical, psychological, emotional, social, occupational, and spiritual lives. 

Since 2002, the Well has given adults with mental illness a healthy community of care.  Community support from foundations like yours will enable this program to continue to meet the mental health needs of some of Dallas’ neediest residents.  

Our Community Members

Mental Health

Most of the Community Members of the Well Community have been diagnosed with one or more mental illnesses (also called “brain disorders”). These illnesses affect their physical, psychological, emotional, social, occupational, and spiritual lives.

Mental illnesses are biological brain disorders that interfere with normal brain chemistry. They are very common: in one year, approximately 25 million Americans are affected. Locally this translates to approximately 20 to 21 percent of all persons in the North Texas area have some type of mental disorder over a one-year period, an estimate of more than 565,000 people*.

The symptoms of mental illnesses can be described as a “double-edged” sword – they both lead to added behaviors and diminished responses. Consider the following behaviors**:

See the attached sheet, “About Mental Illness”, for some more information about specifics.

Living Conditions

The Oak Cliff area of Dallas (south of I-30 and west of I-45) has a comparatively high percentage of residents with mental illness. Local social workers consider this area apart of the demographically defined, “mental health corridor” of Dallas.

The majority of this population lives in local boarding/group homes or public housing apartments. Others are scattered throughout the area and dwell in private residences and apartment buildings. Most are unemployed and live off their SSI or SSDI checks (approx. $500-$575 per month).

See the attached article, “Life on the Edge of Homelessness”, for a better understanding of the issues facing many of our Community Members.

* United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, 2002 Community Needs Assessment, page IV-10.

** Adapted from the NAMI Family to Family Education Program, 05/1998.