KUED’s Nancy Green and Sally Shaum’s documentary On the Edge: Mental Health in Utah is a timely study of the struggles of a few of Utah’s 230,000 mentally ill and their families to find resources. The program peers into a world where, according to Salt Lake County Jail’s mental health program supervisor Matt Vicario, “It’s easier for society to incarcerate mental illness than it is to treat and address mental illness.” Co-director Green cites the stigma of mental illness as this vulnerable segment of the community’s greatest challenge. “People are afraid of strange behavior,” she says. The tragic end result is jails warehousing our mentally ill. “I had no idea how deep the suffering is in our community,” Green says.

On the Edge: Mental Health in Utah airing Oct. 27, 7-8 p.m. on KUED Channel 7.