Dawn MacTaggart Connolly — WHAT IS THE ANSWER? (IOWA)
Things I know about SMI:
Taking a very sick loved one to a hospital, only to have them leave with an appointment card and more meds, is not the answer.
Putting a sick loved one in an apartment, with all new furniture and staff who pop in once a day, is not the answer.
A doctor’s 10 or 15-minute med check meeting is not the answer.
A short, cute little visit with a therapist that doesn’t address real issues is not the answer.
A natural consequence is not the answer.
A state hospital — if the state even has one — is not the answer.
A psych unit in a hospital that houses and medicates is not the answer.
Encouraging, positive talk from family is good, but it is not the answer.
Posted house rules — with expectations and consequences — is not the answer.
A list of social activities is not the answer.
Buying new clothes and stuff is not the answer.
Refusing to buy anything is not the answer.
Giving money is not the answer.
Buying cigarettes is not the answer.
A group home with 24-hour supervision is not the answer.
Answering what seems like 50 calls a day is not the answer.
Family time is not the answer.
Life-skills training is not the answer.
A seventy-two-hour evaluation is not the answer.
Probation is not the answer.
Jail is not the answer
Setting your children up, with everything you can think of to give them a sort of quality of life while allowing them to maintain some kind of independence, is not the answer.
Will someone please tell me, “What is the answer?”
Read more of Dawn’s story in the upcoming book, TOMORROW WAS YESTERDAY - Explosive First-Person Indictments of the US Mental Health System -- Mothers Across the Nation Tell It Like It Is. It will be available on Amazon.
Watch my Nautilus Book Awards Author Spotlight video: https://vimeo.com/422993030