Better Life

Reducing the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America’s communities. What is BetterLife? BetterLife intends to provide coordinated and integrated primary and behavioral healthcare services to improve the physi-cal health of adults with serious mental illnesses who have or are at risk for co-occurring primary care conditions and chronic diseases. Why is the integration of primary care and behavioral health care important? Studies conducted in the last decade show that people with mental health
and/or addiction disorders die at a younger age than those in the general
population. Causes of these premature deaths are likely to include treatable
health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. People diagnosed
with schizophrenia die from these conditions at two to three times the
rate of the general population. People living with addictions also have
higher rates of many chronic, life threatening conditions.