Treatment Advocacy Center is the only national nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating barriers to the timely and effective treatment of severe mental illness (SMI).
While many nonprofits are committed to awareness and treatment of many mental health disorders, Treatment Advocacy Center purposefully has an exclusive focus on severe mental illness, as this population faces the most complex challenges and barriers to treatment within the mental health system.
The Population We Serve
At Treatment Advocacy Center, where the mission is to remove barriers to treatment for the most disabling psychiatric brain illnesses, we define SMI as severe psychiatric diseases with symptoms that put individuals who experience them at the greatest risk for criminal legal system involvement, homelessness, hospitalization, and/or involuntary treatment. Typically, these are disorders with psychotic features, although mania also can elevate risk.
TAC defines SMI as an umbrella term to include people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder), Bipolar I disorder, and major depression with psychotic features. There are up to 8.7 million adults aged 18-65 living with these disorders in a given year.
Treatment Advocacy Center has chosen to focus our work on this population because they are the most impacted by the broken mental health treatment systems and failed, misguided policies of the past. As many of our employees and board members have loved ones with a severe mental illness, we are aware of the barriers individuals face when seeking treatment.
It is our belief that if we create a mental health system that adequately provides treatment for those with the highest needs, the system that results would have the capacity to care for all individuals with mental health concerns.
Sixty years of systematically limiting access to treatment for mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and severe bipolar disorder have left countless individuals and families with nowhere to turn when a loved one needs care.
Learn More About SMI
When navigating a complex set of systems, knowledge is power. Search below for information about state-specific laws and resources, policies that can impact the lives of those with SMI, and our current research, reports, and publications.
