If services for the mentally ill are cut to a level that would require Phoenix of Santa Barbara Inc., the agency where I work, to cut back our services to the mentally ill, it will put my clients in a vulnerable position.As I write, I am thinking especially of a male client with whom I have worked since June 2005. My client is a well-known figure in town who was at risk for arrest, incarceration and hospitalization before he came to reside at Mountain House, a Phoenix residential program. While I cannot cure his disease, I have gradually encouraged my client to remain med-compliant, to practice his social skills, to learn how to cook for himself and, most important, how to care for others. As a result, he has become a pleasant person, who does not pose a threat to himself or others.Here at Phoenix of Santa Barbara Inc., we provide the most important things our mentally ill citizens need: friendship and acceptance. It is through befriending our mentally ill clients with kindness, fun, care and psycho-education that we help our clients achieve their goals.Please urge our county Board of Supervisors to consider all of Santa Barbara’s citizens when it comes time for the board to consider how to will make county budget cuts. Withdrawing vital services from the most vulnerable of our mentally ill citizens will leave only the most harsh and expensive remedies of incarceration and hospitalization as treatment for the mentally ill.Alicia May Mitchell, Intern M.F.T.Santa Barbara