Poverty Facing People Living with a Mental Illness

In Canada there’s been major restructuring of the welfare state in the past years by the government that has led to many policy issues effecting people who have a mental illness.

Canada is continually cutting back government assistance support programs to community based programs because of globalizations and the government’s current neoconservative lens, this has impacted areas such as employment, poverty, housing, education and health care that directly impact those who are living with a mental illness. In Canada there is a lack of social economic supports, insufficient primary health care and community mental health services, shortages of affordable housing and inadequate income support programs (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2007).

            I’ve decided this blog to focus on the social policy issue of poverty for those who are living with a mental illness. When we look at the poverty level in Canada, a high level of people living with a mental illness are living in poverty. In Canada almost 27% of adults with a mental illness are living in poverty (Wilton, 2004). Some of the reasons behind this high rate of poverty for people who live with a mental illness are because a mental illness can interrupt a person’s education or career the result is reduced chance of finding full time employment. This lack of employment then affects that person’s ability to bring in an income to support themselves (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2007). Another reason for poverty facing people with mental illness is because people are frequently not able to access community services and supports due to lack of services and challenges that face the system. With the recent changes to our welfare state in Canada by the government and the changes in our political economy it has negatively affected many people living with a mental illness. For example people who live with disabilities are three times more likely to be poor and four times more likely to receive social assistance than those who live without a disability. In 2006, 1 out of 3 people receiving ODSP were people living with a serious mental illness. But with this said ODSP rates do not cover basic needs i.e. food, clothing and housing. Also many people who live with a mental illness access Ontario Works, and that assistance is half as much as ODSP. 34% of people who live off of ODSP are below the poverty line. These are social assistance programs that are provided by the government that are supposed help meet the needs of Canadian citizen who need them, but they do not  (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2007).

            Through the neo conservative lens, the issue of poverty facing those with mental illnesses and people with other disabilities is not a primary concern. They believe that it should be up to public and private sectors to take on these responsibilities to meet their needs (Mullaly, 2007). 

-          Amanda

References

Canadian Mental Health Association of Ontario . (2007). Poverty and Mental Illness . Retrieved November 29, 2012, from Canadian Mental Health Association of Ontario : http://www.ontario.cmha.ca/admin_ver2/maps/cmha_poverty_backgrounder.pdf

Wilton, R. (2004). Putting Policy into Practice? Poverty and People with Serious Mental Illness. Social Science and Medicine, 25-39.

Mullaly, R. (2007). The New Structural Social Work. Canada: Oxford University Press.