SARASOTA – Shocking statistics from the National Institute of Mental Health, one in six U.S. adults live with a mental illness.


A survey released by the Census Bureau in 2017 finds 15.9 percent of people under the age of 65 living in Sarasota County don’t have access to health insurance and 10.8 percent of people are living in poverty.


A similar story in Manatee County… 18.1 are living without health insurance and 12.7 are living in poverty.


Still, there is help available.


Sarasota psychologist Eddy Regnier says there are places on the Suncoast that can help.


“In Sarasota County, it’s Coastal Recovery, [but] now it’s called Coastal Behavioral Healthcare. In Manatee County, it’s Center Stone and they will work with that person on a sliding fee scale,” said Eddy Regnier, Ph.D.


Coastal Behavioral Healthcare provides several services to the Sarasota and North Port community. It is a state funded and has been providing affordable behavioral healthcare for 40 years, helping adults, seniors, adolescents, and children.


“Let’s say they’re making only making 15,000 dollars and they’ve got four people in the house, they’re probably going to get a 95% reduction in services. So in terms of what that means is individual therapy will probably be a $7.00 payment each time they have it,” said Brendan J. McCollum, Psy.D., LP. of Coastal Behavioral Healthcare.


Jewish Family and Children Services of the Suncoast is another resource.


“A lot of providers aren’t able to or don’t choose to bill Medicaid because the reimbursement is lower, but that is not a barrier. At JFCS we don’t want there to be financial obstacles to care or to service,” said Heidi Brown, the

President & CEO of Jewish Family Children Service.


The contact information for JFCS is JFCS-Cares.org and (941) 366-2224.


The contact information for Coastal Behavioral Healthcare is as follows:

CoastalBH.org

Children Services: (941) 953-0000

Adult Services: (941) 364-9355

North Port Outpatient: (941) 492-4300