applauded

As a professional with over 30 years of experience in community mental health and as current chair of the Washington State Community Mental Health Council, I gratefully applaud Ron Sims for his leadership and vision in including the funds to implement the Mental Health Action plan in the 2008 King County budget and the many county council members who have worked hard to promote this long-awaited, overall plan for prevention and treatment.

One in three families has at least one person with a serious mental illness, and throughout the span of a lifetime, one in five of us will have a serious mental illness. Those with severe and persistent mental illnesses are vulnerable to mistaken incarceration, avoidable homelessness, and the ravages of substance abuse. Mental illness can quickly result in an individual's loss of a normal life.

With the treatment and services to assist with housing and vocational rehabilitation that this plan will make possible, thousands of people will recover from mental illness and substance abuse. They will be stabilized with adequate housing and they will once again be valued employees in the workplace.

Isn't all of that worth a tenth of a penny in sales tax?

In 2005, the Washington State Legislature provided counties with the authority to enact a one-tenth of one-cent sales tax to fund new or expanded mental health and substance abuse treatment services as well as therapeutic courts. Since then, county councils in seven counties have enacted that option: Spokane, Skagit, Island, Clark, Clallam, Jefferson and Okanogan counties. A report to the Legislature shows two dollars are saved for every dollar spent on treatment for this population. County Executive Sims wants to do the right thing Washington's largest and most densely populated county - it's time to fund and implement The Mental Health Action Plan in King County.

David M. Johnson

Chief Executive Officer

Highline West Seattle Mental Health

West Seattle Psychiatric Hospital