Despite having some of the highest rates of food insecurity in the country, people struggling with mental illness also face unique barriers to accessing nutrition programs like SNAP. In the third installment of a five-part investigation into SNAP, Harvest Public Media explores how work requirements, the recertification process, and shame can prevent people with mental illness from accessing crucial nutrition services.
People with mental illness can be considered “able-bodied adults without dependents,” or ABAWDs, meaning they face work requirements in order to qualify for SNAP. But some mentally ill people are not able to work, placing them in even greater precarity in states without waivers for the program’s work requirements. That barrier could be exacerbated if Republicans succeed in passing more stringent work requirements as part of this year’s farm bill.
The stigma surrounding mental illness can also make it impossible for sufferers to ask for support from neighbors. “They go to churches, where people might not be embarrassed to ask their neighbor for a ride to church on Sunday, but they’re too embarrassed to ask them to take them to another county for a [Department of Human Services] office” to receive SNAP services, said one anti-hunger advocate.
The recertification process can be another stumbling block. Once or twice a year, SNAP recipients must prove they still qualify for the program, which can be challenging for recipients who are homeless or who move often.
Additionally, mental illness itself can interfere with SNAP recipients’ ability to jump through the necessary bureaucratic hoops to requalify for the program. “People who suffer from paranoia sometimes just want to stop because they think that someone is trying to get their information and use it,” said one case worker who deals extensively with SNAP recipients coping with mental illness.