Why Mental
Health Services?
3x
More Likely to Live in Poverty
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), people living with an SPMI are more than three times as likely to live in poverty as the general population and they have an unemployment rate of 85-90 percent.
#1
In Hospitalization & Length of Stay
Minnesota has the highest rate of hospitalizations and length of stay for patients with an SPMI compared to the U.S. average, indicating a particularly poor set of services to prevent hospitalization.
64%
Of Homeless Adults in MN have SMI
In 2018, the Wilder Homeless Survey found that in Minnesota, 64 percent of adults experiencing homelessness have an SMI.
10x
More in Jails than Hospitals
Nationally, there are 10 times more individuals with an SMI in U.S. prisons and jails than there are in state hospitals.
12 vs 21.4
Providers per 10k
There are approximately 12 behavioral healthcare professionals for every 10,000 residents in Minnesota. The U.S. average is 21.4.
Understanding Serious and
Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI)
For individuals managing conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder, symptoms can feel overwhelming—thoughts racing uncontrollably, mood fluctuations, and difficulty managing daily tasks that others find routine. These conditions can profoundly impact a person’s ability to live independently and achieve stability and wellness.
Without appropriate treatment and support, the consequences can be serious:
Crises escalate
Symptoms can become unmanageable, leading to substance use, relationship strain, emergency department visits, and hospitalization.
Hospitalizations increase
Unmanaged symptoms can quickly lead to emergency department visits and psychiatric hospitalization, disrupting a person’s stability and community connections.
Cycles of instability persist
Mental health symptoms can make it difficult to maintain employment or housing. Simultaneously, financial strain and the stress of housing instability can intensify symptoms, creating a cycle that’s difficult to break without support.
The Impact of Preventative Care
Guild is just one provider among many, but our results reflect a broader truth: community-based mental health care is both effective and fiscally responsible.
Guild was formed in response to deinstitutionalization in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Our purpose is to provide a community-based continuum of mental health and supportive services—including supported employment and housing stabilization—that prevent hospitalization or reduce its frequency and duration.
It is this suite of services—the continuum—that creates cost effectiveness. Community-based mental health services both keep people stable and in their homes and also keep them out of emergency rooms, hospitals, state-run services, and encampments.
In 2025, Guild served 1,786 individuals. Preventing even a small percentage of these individuals from entering high-cost systems results in substantial public savings. The examples below illustrate the savings community based mental health services can generate:
- $318,000 in annual savings by preventing emergency room visits for psychiatric medication stabilization for just 21 individuals
- $1,081,800 in annual savings by preventing five individuals from experiencing 60-day stays in state-run psychiatric facilities
- $900,000 in annual savings by helping 20 individuals avoid 30-day inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations
These examples demonstrate how targeted, community-based services not only improve individual outcomes but also significantly reduce strain on publicly funded emergency and institutional systems.
Care that Works Together
So People Can Thrive
We focus on three key areas: mental health, housing, and employment.
These areas are connected. Good mental health makes it easier to keep a job. A steady job helps someone keep their housing. Safe housing supports ongoing mental health recovery.
Our teams work together to give the right support at the right time. As a person’s needs change, we adjust our help. We stay alongside them for as long as they need—even for a lifetime.
“Mental health is essential to how we see ourselves and the world around us. Our sense of self and our mental well‑being are deeply connected—they’re not separate or optional, but an integral part of who we are. This relationship shapes how we move through the world, how we understand our experiences, and how we show up in our lives.”
—John Adams