Illinois’ new capitol bill contains funding that will address what officials said has been an ongoing problem for years.

The capitol bill sets aside $80 million to assist mental health facilities all over the state, according to a recent announcement by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Mark J. Heyrman, facilitator with the Mental Health Summit and Mental Health America of Illinois, said there has been a lack of community menntal health services.

“There [have] been underfunding and cuts to funding for a long, long time,” Heyrman said.

With diminishing financial support, state psychiatric hospitals and community facilities were forced to close their doors. Chicago used to have 20 community facilities, but is currently down to five.

“We used to have 33,000 state psychiatric hospital beds,” Heyrman said. “Now, we have fewer than 1,200.”

According to Heyrman, the lack of mental health funding has put a burden on those who seek assistance.

“There are areas of the city [and] there are areas of the state where it’s a long drive to get to a community health provider,” he said.

People who suffer from mental illness, Heyrman acknowledged, are often not motivated to seek treatment because they are too depressed or have symptoms that interfere with their ability to do so.

“For most people, we don’t need to do anything coercive, but we do need to make it a little easier for people to get treatment when they want it and need it or when their family members are willing to assist them in getting treatment,” he said.

While it is unknown where the $80 million will be directed, Heyrman stated 2019 has been good for mental health services in Illinois due to more money from the Medicaid budget, which will be used to build more physical spaces for provisional services.

“This is the best year we had,” he said. “I can’t remember how long it’s been.”