Legal-Behavioral Health Integration Project's Fundraiser
Help build a new model of behavioral health care that integrates legal representation and advocacy into wraparound supports for people living with severe and persistent mental illness.
Please give today to support the expansion of this transformative model.
Thousands of individuals in St. Louis living with severe and persistent mental illness face unresolved legal challenges such as municipal arrest warrants, landlord disputes, and outstanding convictions. These legal issues can lead to excessive fines and fees, jail time, and disrupt employment and housing stability. Legal stressors degrade quality of life and undermine mental and physical health, yet access to legal representation on these matters is limited due to structural gaps and economic barriers.
The Legal-Behavioral Health Integration Project is a new model of community behavioral health care that embeds legal services into wraparound supports for people with severe and persistent mental illness. The project is grounded in the understanding that access to justice is a social determinant of health—unresolved legal problems create instability, exacerbate symptoms, and impair recovery unless addressed directly within treatment. Developed in partnership with the St. Louis City Public Defender's Office, the project integrates an attorney trained in mental health interventions and trauma-informed principles into behavioral health teams. The attorney provides direct representation, legal consultation, serves as a bridge between the behavioral health and legal systems, and coordinates care. The project aims to improve outcomes by addressing legal barriers to stability and overall wellbeing—and you can be a part of it.
Your support directly expands access to this model for people who need it most.