When Brittny Adams-Jenkins' schizophrenia and bipolar disorder symptoms became too much for her family to handle, she moved in with an abusive boyfriend. She eventually escaped to a battered women's shelter, but her stay there was short-lived and soon after she found herself homeless. She was spiraling, and had little access to treatment for her mental illnesses.

"I was going almost every month to the emergency room," Adams-Jenkins, now 33, says. "It got to be a routine thing. They just gave me my meds and sent me on my way."

That all changed nearly two years ago when she earned a spot at the Independence Center, a community mental health facility in St. Louis. Social workers helped her apply for Medicaid and enroll in a special program with regular access to physicians, therapists and social workers, as well as training in employment and practical skills.