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Thanks to my new kitty, Detective Lucas Whiskers, being sick, and getting old/er, I’ve “set up” my simplest Christmas tree ever. In this chaotic 2020 year, simple feels comforting to me. So I'm sending simple wishes to all.
MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY HOLIDAYS! STAY SAFE AND WELL.
Introducing authors of the 65 stories in Tomorrow Was Yesterday - Explosive First-Person Indictments of the US Mental Health System — Mothers Across the Nation Tell It Like It Is. Available on Amazon in December.
FROM CALIFORNIA
Francie VanZandt: “Prepare Myself? How Do I Do That?”
Francie is 62-years-old and the mother of five children. She’s spent many years working at the elementary school in her rural community. “I am a strong woman. Life has not been easy. Like all of us, a few rough times have come my way. Some of those times I didn’t think I could survive. I did. I manage to begin each new day with the hope I can make a difference for someone.”
FROM COLORADO
Darlene Watkins: “Please Don’t Kill My Son”
FROM CONNECTICUT
Kendra Burgos: “The Caregiver’s Sadness”
Kendra’s hope is that others will know there is love and joy despite the many challenges of living with someone with mental illness. “I am grateful to my husband for teaching me how to love unconditionally and to my children for their strength because it is the family’s struggle as well.” Kendra wants others to know that we are not alone, and there is strength in our stories.
FROM FLORIDA
Ronnie Blumenthal: “No One Asks. She’s Been Erased.”
Ronnie is a mother, advocate, writer, daughter, and wife. “It won’t change unless we talk about it.”
Allison Brown: “Fighting for Change”
Allison is a 37-year-old wife and mother of three. “I want a better life for my kids than I had. I hope to be a voice of change for mental health reform.”
Sylvia Charters: “There’s No Help in the USA”
Sylvia is the mother of two sons. Her son, Jason, had bipolar disorder with psychosis. He passed at age 40 with cardiomyopathy. Her youngest son is undiagnosed and living, homeless, on the streets of Phoenix and is addicted to street drugs. He has symptoms of bipolar disorder. “There’s no help whatsoever for the mentally sick in the USA.”
Sandy Turner: “He Has Schizophrenia, Your Honor”
FROM IDAHO
Angela McCandless: “We Don’t Help People Here”
Angela is mother to four children and grandma to four children. She writes:,“Here are four words to describe me: 1. Organized — organize don’t agonize. 2. Determined — I’ll never give up fighting for my son. 3. Spiritual — I don’t believe in miracles — I rely on them. 4. Kind — I love making someone’s day. My hobbies are decorating and cooking. A favorite quote: ‘If you are on the right path, it will always be uphill.’”
FROM ILLINOIS
Jacque Cowger McKinney: “Too many Families Live This Pain”
FROM INDIANA
Kelli Nidey: “Have You Seen My Son?”
Kelli lives in a little river town in the Midwest. “I hope we can find causes and cures for neurological illnesses in my lifetime”
FROM IOWA
Leslie Carpenter: “What Do I Dream Of Now?”
Leslie is an advocate for people with serious brain disorders in Iowa, along with her husband Scott. They advocated on federal policy changes with all the democratic presidential candidates during the 2020 pre-caucus season. Leslie is a board member of NAMI Johnson County and teaches Family-to-Family, NAMI Provider training, and serves on the Advocacy and Outreach Committee. The Carpenters have two adult children, one of whom lives with schizoaffective disorder.
Dawn MacTaggart Connolly: “What Is the Answer?”
FROM KENTUCKY
Harriet B.: “I’m Going to Brag About My Son”
Martha: “Everyone Needs Hope”
Martha is the proud mother to her son who lives heroically with SMI (or neurological brain disorder). Along with advocacy and prayer, “I long for the day when our loved ones who are suffering will have the opportunity to receive effective, compassionate care like all others.”
Joann Strunk: “Finding Sarah”
Joann is the mother of a smart, beautiful young woman of 33 who has been seriously mentally ill since age 16. “The battle to get her the care that she needs has been horrendous. Our mental health system is beyond broken.”
COMING UP: Mothers from Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York.
Leslie Carpenter
Leslie and her son.
Today I’m sharing a photo of me holding our son at my older sister’s wedding. So, this must be from February 1992. Wow, it feels like that was so very long ago...
As we were watching her wedding, held in the same Presbyterian Church in Gouverneur, New York, where my husband Scott and I got married, I can remember imagining our son growing up and getting married as well. So many things we imagine for our children, the hopes and dreams most of us share: for them to find someone to love, to find a career that makes them fulfilled, and for health and happiness.
Well, when our son became so very sick with his serious brain disorder, our dreams and hopes changed dramatically. Ever so sadly, one comes to accept that many of our dreams for our children will likely never happen. And, eventually, we process our grief, let go of those dreams, and, if we’re lucky, we begin imagining new ones.
So, what do I dream of now for our son and so many others like him? Oh my, I have so many dreams.
I dream of money being put into research to help find more effective treatments and cures for serious brain disorders.
I dream of creating wonderful psychiatric assisted living campuses with multiple levels of care from acute care hospitalization, to sub-acute units, to independent living apartments — with actual collaborative care and engagement with a team of compassionate and skilled mental health professionals and social workers and vocational rehab counselors and so much more.
I dream of establishing state-of-the-art treatment campuses that we would be proud to bring a family member with a brain disorder to for help. A place where we would be proud to work, and visit, and volunteer.
I dream of collaborative community care of all sorts, including assisted outpatient treatment teams working with civil mental health courts, so that people don’t have to get so sick they end up committing a crime before that level of care can be provided.
I dream of no person with a mental illness ending up in a jail or a prison, just because they are sick and haven’t been able to get medical treatment.
I dream of no person ending up homeless and untreated on our streets.
I dream of our son being able to live as independently as possible and being engaged in some activity that he enjoys — whether that be his art or volunteering or even working part-time.
I dream of our son living with as little suffering as possible, with friends, family, and a caring treatment team who are invested in his well being. And after Scott and I are no longer living, I dream that our son will be okay when we can no longer advocate and support him.
I dream of him finally having the ability to have peace within his mind and for the voices to go away.
I dream of these things, now, because of the restoration of my ability to hope, because of my NAMI family, and attending NAMI’s amazing signature program, “Family to Family.”
For this reason, Scott and I are participating in our NAMI’s largest fundraiser, the NAMIWalk, on May 2 here in Iowa City. There are numerous NAMIWalks across the country. Hopefully, many will support them.
Donna and her son
The other me is an optimist,
Always up for something new.
The other me has a list of dreams that, somehow,
She’ll make come true.
The other me writes silly stories
For someone, or no one, to read.
The other me loves being creative,
Always a project up her sleeve.
The other me sees into hearts
And knows just how they feel.
The other me has the gift of saying
Calming words that heal.
The other me, in adversity,
Is as strong as a mother bear.
The other me is hopeful
And still believes in prayer.
She looks just like me, she's just my age
And her hair is just as gray.
But her eyes, they sparkle, and she’s quick to smile.
Wish I could be that way.
The me, that I am, finds it difficult
To concentrate on much.
The me, that I am, no longer has a
Passion for crafts and such.
The me, that I am, has worries
No mother should ever own.
The me, that I am, often feels
Hopeless and alone.
The me, that I am, can't always find
The soothing words that she would.
The me, that I am, often doesn’t have
The patience that I should.
The me, that I am, is heartbroken
That it all seems so unfair.
The me, that I am, is angry
And incapable of prayer.
Sometimes I catch a glimpse of her
Out of the corner of my eye.
She beckons me to join her,
If only for a while.
And, if I can pull myself together
For a brief repose,
We might do some gardening, take a walk
Or catch a movie, I suppose.
We like to share a rocking chair
And a book out in the sun,
And she’s nice to have around to
Share in a bit of fun.
From time to time she whispers
Encouragement in my ear.
And, if I can’t, she’ll be the one
Who says a little prayer.
She doesn’t stick around long,
She comes and goes…and then...
Sometimes I start to worry
That I won’t see her again.
I hope she doesn't forget me.
I know I’ll never forget her.
My son is 37-years old. Even as a child, he was a worrier and anxious, but had a lot of friends and easily got good grades. He was the kid who didn't drink and who would drive the other kids home. He went away to college in 2001 and, in 2004, had a breakdown, dropped out, and came home. He was diagnosed with Bipolar 2, anxiety, and severe depression. He’d started self-medicating with beer and pot and cigarettes, which he used to hate. Luckily, no hard drugs had been involved.
To make a really long story a bit shorter, over the years his SMI has progressed. He’s been in the ER (51/50's) numerous times (which he often talks his way out of), and has been hospitalized three times. He’s taken a variety of medications — none of which seemed to work that well, especially, when he was drinking, smoking, and not compliant taking them. He said, “I don’t want to kill myself. I just want to be dead.”
Over a year ago, after an extremely bad episode when he was hospitalized, we made the hard decision to not allow our son to come home. Since then, he’s been in five different places — always a "great" opportunity until he gets tired of the venue or gets kicked out. Although he’d been sober for quite a while and was going to AA, he went off his meds last summer and got worse than ever. He was rail thin, let his hair grow really long, and didn’t shave or bathe. His eyes looked wild and his behavior was scary. Every time we talked to him, he ranted and screamed and blamed us and, in the same breath, would cry for us to let him come home. He said, “I’ll show you how much I’ve changed since I’ve been sober.”
My son is back on meds, but is still extremely depressed and lonely and wants to come home. We know it won't work and that we're doing the right thing, but it doesn't feel very good. He’s in "the system," and getting SS disability, but not going to therapy consistently. We’ve been to NAMI meetings and classes.
Mental illness changes the whole family. We’re both 64 and tired, emotionally and physically. Even though our son isn’t with us 24/7 anymore, his illness consumes us. I used to have hobbies and other interests that I would still like to do, but rarely have the energy.
In the 16 years since he was diagnosed, my son’s had a blood clot in his lung (he also has a clotting disorder). I’ve been through breast cancer (chemo and radiation), and had a tumor on my spinal cord removed followed by a lot of physical therapy. My 90 year-old mother-in-law moved in with us for six months before she passed, and I had to liquidate her estate. I worried about another son with the clotting disorder, my husband lost his younger brother, and, now, I'm helping take care of my 90-year-old parents. We're wondering when the golden years kick in.
I wrote this poem a couple of years ago. Thanks for reading it.
On the road to Mule Creek State Prison
On Saturday, December 21, I drove 112 miles round trip to Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California. I’d missed my November visit with Travis Christian (BB8099) because of rainy weather. The country road I have to drive is old, narrow, full of pot holes, 90 degree curves, and roller-coaster type hills you can’t see over until you’re literally on top of them. You hope there’s not a tractor or a motorcycle on the downward side. Frequent warning signs say, “Flood Zone. Turn Around/Don’t Drown.”
I was eager to see Travis. I’d written him that I intended to visit on Sunday, December 22, and then the weather forecast predicted rain that day. I changed my appointment at the prison to visit Travis on Saturday but I had no way let him know.
Saturday was gray. The prison grounds were gray. The prison walls were gray. No color anywhere. It must be hard to be prison staff and work day in and day out in moody surroundings. As soon as I turned my visitor’s pass in to the guard in the visiting room, he said, “Take cubicle number one. Travis will be right here.”
I sat down on the visitor’s side of the glass. A guard opened the door to the cubicle. Travis soon stepped into view — his wrists shackled behind his back — with a big bushy beard (something new) and a big, bright smile. With his wrists free, Travis picked up the phone and said, “Dede, I’m so happy and surprised to see you today. When they called ‘Christian’ I knew I had a visitor. I knew it was you.”
We launched into a fast-paced exchange. “How are you?” “You have a new beard.” “You look great, Dede.” “You look great, Travis.” And off we went…
Travis wanted to be sure I let everyone know how much he appreciates the cards, letters and books you’re sending. “Today, I’m writing to Sue and Patricia. For now, I have plenty of books. Did you get the list I sent you?”
I did get the list. Travis, thanks to many of you, now has these books on a shelf in his cell in the hole:
1) From Failure to Huge Success Stories
2) A Night in Jail - A Story About Drugs
3) Rosemary, The Hidden Kennedy Daughter
4) Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity
5) Writing My Wrongs
6) Recovery - Freedom From Our Addictions
7) Save Me From Myself - How I Found God
8) Heavier Than Heaven
9) God Will Use This For Good
10)You’ll Get Through This
11) From Prison to Prosperity
12) Elevation
13) The Hunt for Red October
14) Delight in Disorder
15) Patriot Games
16) The Boy in the Wooden Box
17) Just Mercy
18) Fall to Pieces
19) Robin Williams
20) The Chris Farley Show
21) Schizophrenia Understanding
22) Johnny Cash - Autobiography
23) My House of Memories - Merle Haggard
24) The Fallen - David Balducci
25) The Incredible Journey
26) Man’s Search for Meaning
27) American Short Story Masterpieces
28) Surviving the Stress
29) The Elephant Whisperer
30) Pilgrim’s Progress
31) Forgiveness and Hope
32) Mega Crossword Puzzle Book #18 & #19
33) Chicken Soup for the Prisoner’s Soul
34) Crossword Puzzle Book for Adults
35) 200 Crossword Puzzles for Adults
36) Greatest Inspirational Quotes
Travis has been journaling. “I want to write a book, Dede. For myself. About my journey. About my relationship with Jesus. But I’m no good. I write a few lines and crumple up the paper. ‘God, why are you making me want to write when I can’t do it?’ I get really frustrated.”
That set us off on a discussion about writing. “Travis,” I said, “no one knows how to write in the beginning. You learn to write by writing.” “Don’t edit yourself as you go along or you’ll never get past a sentence or two. Edit later when you have more objectivity about your work.” “When you sit down to write, take whatever comes, Whatever first pops into your mind. It’s a gift from your subconscious.” “Write about the people who are corresponding with you.” “Write about, ‘What I’d do today if I were outside this cell. Where would I be? Who would be with me? What colors would I see?’” “Write about your family.” “Write about your prison experiences.”
I asked Travis to describe his cell. It consists of four gray cement walls. One wall has a wood desk and a skinny slit for a window. Outside the window Travis can see another prison building and some sky. On the opposite wall, a door has a window where he can see the guards at work. A bunk, toilet, sink, and some lockers fill the two remaining sides.
“This is your universe for now, Travis. It’s unique. Write about your universe — how to make a life living in four walls. Anne Frank wrote while confined. In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl wrote about his life as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps. Think of other prisoners you might help as you write. No navel-gazing allowed.”
Travis was listening intently. I said, “I’m throwing spaghetti against the wall. You don’t have to pay attention to what I say. I’m brainstorming.”
Travis started laughing. “You’re so funny, Dede.”
“What’s funny, Travis?”
“You give me ideas and things to think about and then say, ‘Don’t pay any attention.’”
It was so good to hear Travis laugh. It felt like, for an hour, we traveled together outside his cell. A guard knocked on the window. “Ten minutes,” he said.
Travis had been to the canteen in the morning. “I bought coffee, toothpaste, and some snacks. I have everything I need. I read something. ‘An attitude of gratitude determines altitude.’ I’m practicing being grateful, Dede. When I’m having a hard time, I ask Jesus to get me through the next five minutes. He helps me and then I say, ‘Thank you.’ I live my life five minutes at a time.”
The guard came back. Travis said, “I love you, Dede.”
“I love you, Travis. I’ll see you next month. Next year.”
Travis folded his wrists behind his back and stuck them through the slot in the door. The guard attached restraints and led Travis out of view. With mixed thoughts and emotions (love for Travis and hatred for solitary confinement), I took the scary road back to Lincoln.
Travis’ mailing address:
Travis Christian
BB8099
C-12-242
Mule Creek State Prison
PO Box 409060
Ione, CA 95640
Presidential candidate Steve Bullock is the two-term, Democratic Governor and former Attorney General of Montana. The following is his plan for mental health/illness care. It’s published on his website. https://stevebullock.com/mental-health/
Governor Steve Bullock’s plan touches on the prioritized issues addressed in the *2020 GRASSROOTS FIVE-PART PLAN FOR SERIOUS MENTAL ILLNESS (SMI) developed by dozens of SMI individuals, families, professionals, and journalists from across the country. Sooner Than Tomorrow welcomes mental health/illness plans from all 2020 presidential candidates.
Addressing our Mental Health Crisis
Every year, over 40 million adults in America will experience a mental illness,1 yet over half of those who have an illness don’t receive treatment.2 That’s unacceptable and we must do better. Steve will prioritize expanding access to and ensuring affordability of mental health care.
As a Governor, Steve knows how just how challenging it can be to change the culture around mental health, particularly in our rural and tribal communities. That’s why Steve made record investments in Montana’s mental health system, expanding crisis intervention and treatment and doubling the number of Medicaid substance use treatment providers.
Providing Coverage for Mental Health
─ Ensure funding for treatments so mental health options are available to every American living with a mental illness.
─ Individual circumstances often warrant different treatments. Steve will provide a range of housing options for those who need support to remain as healthy as possible. These housing options include:
─ Independent living with case management.
─ Small congregate group living homes where individuals can socialize
and learn skills for independent living.
─ Clubhouse models.
─ Ensure services at multiple levels of care at psychiatric assisted living
campuses on mental health institutes, from secure and acute facilities to
independent living apartments.
─ Supported housing with onsite case management.
─ Scatter site housing with periodic case management.
─ The government should also not withhold funds for potentially life-saving medical options. That is why Steve will also work to increase the number of beds available for hospitals for patients with mental illnesses.
─ Alarmingly, the number of beds available for mental health patients has declined significantly. This not only diverts resources but has forced patients to wait in emergency rooms, or even jails, which are not equipped to handle these individuals.3
1 https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness.shtml
2 https://health.usnews.com/conditions/mental-health/articles/what-mental-health-statistics-can-tell-us
3https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2016/08/02/amid-shortage-of-psychiatric-beds-mentally-ill-face-long-waits-for-treatment.
─ In 2016, 10x more people with serious mental illnesses were in jails or prisons instead of state mental hospitals. That needs to change.4
─ Steve will work with Congress to allocate the funds necessary to fully equip hospitals with the beds they need.
─ Steve will enable Medicaid funds to be used for in-patient mental health treatments, repealing the Medicaid Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion to help ensure mental health parity.
─ HHS has moved towards a waiver system that allows some states to get a limited exception to this rule. This is not enough as it still requires significant work to get a waiver and can be reversed.5
─ Removing this waiver would allow more individuals to access mental health treatment.6
─ Steve will direct HHS to update regulations to make it easier to have a waiver on IMD in the short-term, and work with Congress to repeal the IMD exclusion permanently.
─ Part of adequately addressing mental health needs is ensuring that people have access to comprehensive and affordable insurance. That is why Steve has released a full plan to increase healthcare coverage. Highlights of the plan include:
─ Provide a public option to improve access and ensure competition in the marketplace and for those Americans who live in states without Medicaid expansion.
─ Ensure more families can access care by automatically enrolling those who are Medicaid eligible or eligible for a 100% cost subsidy on the ACA exchange.
─ Establish Mental Health Parity for Medicaid.
─ Steve will work with Congress to ensure mental health parity in Medicaid by
expanding the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
Ensuring Adequate Funding
─ Increase funding to mental health providers, medical schools and universities, and other medical education institutions (e.g., those issuing psychiatric certifications) that are graduating psychiatrists, family practitioners, and other medical professionals who can help address mental health issues in our country.
─ Improve directed financing for allied mental health professionals and encourage pipeline programs at community colleges as well as in structured programs for layperson training.
4 https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/key-issues/bed-shortages
5 https://www.ajmc.com/newsroom/hhs-lifting-imd-exclusion-for-medicaid-payment-for-inpatient-mental-health-treatment 6 https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20190401.155500/full/
─ Steve will also work to increase the number of people graduating with a dual degree in psychiatry and internal medicine. This enables primary care physicians to be qualified to provide mental health treatment as well.
─ He will also set aside funding for psychiatric certification programs for advanced registered nurse practitioner (ARNP’s) and physician assistants (PA’s).
─ Steve will work with Congress to increase funding.
─ Create the “Rural Practitioner Loan Forgiveness Program” to provide student loan
forgiveness for mental health professionals who work in rural communities for five years.
─ Similar to the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program, mental health professionals who practice in rural communities for 5 years would have their student loans forgiven.
─ In particular, outreach will focus on students who are from rural communities and left for education.
─ The lack of mental health professionals in rural areas is an urgent crisis, with an estimated 65% of rural counties not having a psychiatrist.7
─ Steve will work with Congress to pass this priority.
─ Raise Medicare reimbursement rates for mental health treatments.
─ If we want to get serious about addressing mental health, we need to raise reimbursement rates for psychiatric services so Americans can get the help they need.
─ Steve will work with Congress to allocate additional funds.
─ Increase funding for school-based mental health, including through the expansion of School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs) to ensure trained professionals are available to
assist existing staff.8
─ Steve will seek Congressional funding for additional programs.
─ Push the National Neurologic Conditions Surveillance System (NNCSS) to reclassify serious mental illnesses as a neurological medical condition, enabling more research funding and eliminating discrimination in treatment and insurance reimbursment.
─ Currently, serious mental illnesses are classified as a behavioral condition, an outdated classification that ignores science.9
─ This would enable the CDC to spend more money on this research, particularly from the 21st Century Cures Act.
─ Steve will support efforts to have the WHO reclassify this.
7 https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/20/health/mental-health-rural-areas-issues-trnd/index.html 8 https://www.hrsa.gov/our-stories/school-health-centers/index.html
9 https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/05/schizophrenia-brain-disease-1059386
Creating the Right Culture for Prevention and Treatment
─ Bolster early intervention efforts to prevent or delay the development of more serious conditions and the need to focus on children through school-based screenings and treatment.
─ Steve will work with HHS, the Department of Education, and advocates to introduce more school-based programs to improve mental health. Long-term, he will work with Congress to allocate necessary funds for this vital program.
─ Support the Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to create a new
three-digit hotline number, similar to 911, for suicide prevention resources.
─ Steve will ask HHS and the Domestic Policy Council to prioritize this initiative and ensure it is completed within his first year in office.
─ Increase suicide prevention efforts in the United States through improved training, creating suicide prevention programs for vulnerable populations, and reducing the stigma of suicide through public information campaigns.
─ Suicide is at its highest level, with 47,173 deaths by suicide in America in 2017. 10 We need to take immediate action to address this.
─ This is particularly alarming for our veterans, active-duty service members, guardsmen, and reservists, where every day, approximately 20 veterans lose their life to suicide.11
─ Steve would have the HHS convene advocates and industry experts to develop policy recommendations that HHS and Congress can act on. He will also have HHS and the VA coordinate on a solution to this.
─ To read more about Steve’s efforts to combat veteran suicide, visit Steve’s veterans plan here.
─ Expand the existing Report on the Impact of Programs Serving Patients with Mental Illness under the 21st Century Cures Act to make recommendations to Congress on how best to improve care for patients with mental illness and avoid fragmentation and duplication of services.
─ Steve will direct HHS to broaden the report to include these elements.
Supporting Treatment
─ Invest in community treatment centers for mental health. One solution will not
work for every community in our country, which is why we need to ensure that we expand and fund more Community Health Centers around the country.
─ Not only do these centers meet the needs of the Americans in their community, but can be a significant savings to the taxpayer as well.12
─ Steve will work with Congress to further fund these initiatives.
─ Allow doctors to provide the right treatment to patients with severe mental health illnesses by modernizing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
10 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/07/us/deaths-drugs-suicide-record.html
11 https://www.stripes.com/news/us/va-reveals-its-veteran-suicide-statistic-included-active-duty-troops-1.533992 12 http://www.nachc.org/about/about-our-health-centers/what-is-a-health-center/
─ Allow doctors to provide the right treatment to patients with severe mental health illnesses by modernizing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to ensure the best treatment options for patients. (Aligning 42 CFR Part 2 with the HIPAA Privacy Rule to allow sharing of information in critical circumstances.)
─ HIPAA is important to protect patients’ privacy. But for some patients with serious mental health illnesses, it can make it difficult for families and caregivers to determine the right treatment for their loved ones.13
─ Changing this would also make tele-health more effective for Americans with mental health illnesses as it would allow doctors to communicate with loved ones if deemed necessary.
─ Steve would work with legislators to change HIPAA law to enable mental health professionals to share and receive critical diagnostic criteria and treatment information with/from parents and caregivers of Americans with serious mental illnesses.
─ Expand use of Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) to ensure all treatment options are available and patients can receive assistance wherever they need it.
─ Steve will work with Congress to incentivize corrections to apply for AOT for mentally ill prisoners who are being released and allow families to petition the court for this.
─ Decriminalize schizophrenia so that treatment is available to Americans who need it.
─ Right now, treatment is available if there is a “danger to self or others,” which prevents help from being given when people need it most. Earlier treatment can prevent illnesses from ever getting to a “danger” level.
─ Steve will work with Congress to change the criteria for getting help.
─ End solitary confinement for people with serious mental illnesses.
─ Reform civil commitment laws to ensure they protect patient rights but also enable
Americans who need help to get it.
─ Some serious mental illnesses affect the frontal lobe, so people may not know
they need assistance. In some of these situations, being able to work with civil
courts and hospitals to identify these people and get them assistance is critical.
─ In many situations, judges cannot even consider patients’ prior history when
making a ruling.
─ Steve will have the HHS convene leaders on this issue to provide guidance for
states looking to modify laws.
─ Conduct random audits for parity requirements for mental health coverage.
─ Steve will direct the secretary of the Department of Labor (DOL) to conduct random compliance audits to identify system-wide themes in noncompliance to help increase global compliance.
─ Promote Workforce Training Programs through direct and indirect subsidization of training programs at the federal and state level.
─ Steve will work with HHS to focus funds on this.
13 https://www.asam.org/advocacy/advocacy-principles/standardize-it/confidentiality-(42-cfr-part-2)-new
─ Ensure federal funding is available for standalone mental health facilities.
Accomplishments
As Governor, Steve has prioritized policies to improve mental healthcare access for all
Montanans.
- After passing the Health and Economic Livelihood Partnership (HELP) Act, an innovative approach to Medicaid expansion, an additional 96,000 more Montanans now have healthcare. Montana’s uninsured rate has dropped from a staggering 20% in 2013 to 7% today (DPHHS).
- Made record investments in Montana’s mental health system, expanding crisis intervention and treatment, and doubling the number of Medicaid substance use treatment providers (DPHHS).
- Set up the nation’s first multi-payer Project ECHO for behavioral health, to dramatically increase access in rural communities to integrated behavioral health treatment by providing front-line clinicians with the knowledge and support they need to manage patients with mental health and substance use treatment needs (DPHHS).
- Provided mental health parity to give equal treatment for physical health, mental health conditions, and substance use disorders in insurance plans. This will leverage the private insurance market to help integrate behavioral and physical health care in Montana.
- Invested in suicide prevention efforts for veterans, American Indians, and youth.
- Opened opportunities for all Montanans who served in uniform to receive mental health
counseling.
PAID FOR BY BULLOCK FOR PRESIDENT
Printed in House
Steve Bullock
A Homeless Camp in Sacramento/Photo credit: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press
With a political focus, I wasn’t expecting to hear from these constituents. God bless them. Marcella Brown writes this response to our grassroots effort to bring serious mental illness to the attention of 2020 presidential candidates and other influencers.
As one of the 10 million SMI individuals fighting, with all we've got and all we are every single day, for the life and death services we are being denied, thank you, Dede Moon Ranahan and team, for your unbelievable commitment to advocacy for friends you have not yet met.
We are fighting for our lives, and losing the battle quickly by our opponents debilitating us in the denial of our most basic needs — food, shelter & clothing. In Sacramento, we’ve been cut off from all access to water and shelter from the sun. We’re hunted down like criminals on the run, and kept from any place that would allow us time to rest. Restaurants are ordered by the city to waste hundreds of pounds of food daily, just to keep us from access to what others have thrown away. For most of us, that dumpster food is vital for us to survive.
We realize we are a heavy burden on our more fortunate and very hard-working brothers and sisters and we are truly sorry for that. We feel terrible being an eye-sour and unclean but we are denied any alternative.
And, if I may be so bold as to speak for all of us without prior permission, we would rather just lie-down-and-die most days of this battle. We are exhausted and out-numbered, we are dehumanized and dejected, and most days we are humiliated and without hope.
But something, beyond our control and better judgment, kicks in and keeps us fighting for our lives, as we are drowning in an ocean of tears shed for those we are seeing daily lose their battle for life — our brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers, our neighbors and our confidants, our friends and chosen family who gave all they were to try and live.
Each of you being willing to do what is right, even when no one else is doing it, are our heroes and our inspiration. You are our only hope for our voices have been muffled and our hearts weakened by the day. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts ❤
In humble gratefulness, we dedicate this song to you...
"Safe Place to Land" — Sara Bareilles and John Legend
https://youtu.be/Ht2NCrlghS4
Read these statistics. Click on the link below.
Travis
Sunday I visited Travis (BB8099) for the first time in 2019. It was a clear, like-spring morning, 59 degrees, and sunny. The roads from my house to Folsom Prison are back roads. I drove past ponds, weathered barns, horses, riding stables, vineyards, orchards, ducks, and geese. Cyclists were out solo and in groups. I wanted to keep driving on these roads. I didn’t want to stop my car to walk into a depressing cement building surrounded by wire fencing and spotlights. I didn’t want to deal with X-ray machines, guards, and clanging sets of locked doors. But Travis was waiting. And Travis is housed in the depressing cement building surrounded by wire fencing and spotlights. He lives with X-ray machines, guards, and clanging sets of locked doors every single day. I only had to stay for a few hours.
As I parked my car, a young African-American woman stepped out of the car next to mine. She was wearing an attractive orange tunic, black leggings, and stylish shoes. She looked pretty. The guards agreed. She looked “too pretty.” Her leggings were “too tight.” She had to leave. Later, I’d see her, again, visiting in white slacks.
Travis walked down the steps into the visiting area with a big smile. We hugged and then cut to the chase. He was looking toward the vending machines. “Do you want to get a sandwich, Travis?” A quick nod and we were off to the opposite side of the room. Our relationship’s evolving.
Travis asked about my holidays and I described my crab feed for my family. He asked about my book. He said his mom likes the white cover better than the blue or gray. I asked him how he was after his Abilify medication was stopped abruptly. “I had a tough month of withdrawal but I’m feeling better and I like my new psychiatrist better than the old one. She seems engaged. She seems like she cares.”
“I have a new cellie I really like, too. His name is Will but everybody calls him ‘Rooster.’ He’s Hispanic, 39 years-old, and grew up in Fresno. And you know something else? Rooster has one eye. When he was 16, he was playing Russian roulette with his friends. He shot himself in the face and destroyed his eye. But he’s a good guy. He’s a christian, and he tries to help others. We read the Bible together every night.”
I asked more questions about Rooster — how he got a gun at 16 (“I don’t know”), and if he has family somewhere (“Yes”)? “Rooster is a political junkie. He watches all the stuff about the wall and the shutdown and he wants to talk about it all the time. I tell him not to. The news unsettles me and I need to take care of myself. I don’t want to trigger my depression. I’m in prison and there’s nothing I can do to change things.”
I studied the visitors and inmates sitting around the room. One inmate, older with long grey braids, held hands and spoke softly with his female visitor. Another swept the floor, laughing and joking with people as he swept around them. He seemed friendly and so all-American. How did this young man come to be in here? In the highest security block for criminal offenders? I wanted to talk to everyone and hear their stories. Wishful thinking.
For two-and-a-half hours, Travis and I chatted and sometimes sat in silence. Comfortable silence. I found out Travis likes to play pinochle and I told him I play bridge. He wanted to hear about the game. He thought it sounded like a card game he’d enjoy.
“We put on a play this week in church. One of the inmates wrote it. It was about a prisoner, John, who was denied parole and how he handled it. I played my guitar and sang ‘I lift the Lord’s name on high.’ The play ended with a big, tall, inmate (John) singing a praising song to Jesus. Everyone was swaying and clapping their hands. Even the guards. They said, ‘We usually don’t have happy stories to take home and tell our families but today was different. Today we have a happy story to take home.’”
Travis changed the subject. “When I get out of prison, I want to get a dog. A lab. A puppy to cuddle with. More than a dog, I want a wife and family. I’m a grown man. I’ve left my mother’s house. That’s the hardest part of being in here. I see a beautiful woman on TV and say, ‘Oh man, I hope I get a second chance.’”
When it was time to go, Travis wished me a good month until our next visit. I told Travis I’d try to find a beginning bridge book to send to him. Other than that, there were no promises — Travis still has five years to serve out his sentence. For the moment, however, I sensed we were both grateful for his feeling better, for his new cellie, Rooster, and for an original, jailhouse play.
A gentle day. Sometimes gentle days must be enough.
You can read more about my visits with Travis. They’re listed in the Archives on the right.
Travis looks forward to receiving mail. You can write to him at this address: Travis Christian
BB8099
B-5-229
California State Prison-Sacramento
P.O. Box 290066
Represa, CA 95671
On February 8, 2018, I along with Dr. Everett Allen (an internist who worked for several years at California Pelican Bay State Prison's solitary confinement), Cyrus Ahalt (a UCSF Public Health and Criminal Justice researcher), and Steven Czifra (a UC Berkeley MSW intern who was confined in solitary confinement for eight years while in juvenile then adult corrections facilities), presented on the relevance of solitary confinement to community mental health at the California Contra Costa County Psychiatry and Psychology monthly meeting.
Solitary confinement is being held in a small cell for 22 to 24 hours a day with minimal property and no meaningful human contact. We reviewed the physical and psychological harms of this most restrictive housing placement. In addition, we explored the dual loyalties for providers as they participate in this practice. As providers, is it ethical to declare someone fit for this high risk containment? This is what is happening — we are witnesses and participants.
Canada's Supreme Court declared solitary confinement unconstitutional in January 2018. A few months later, India, too, acknowledged this preventable harm. When will this nation reach this decision? On any given day in the USA, 100,000 are held in these extreme conditions, some unconscionably for years and decades. Fifty percent of suicides occur in these restrictive segregations, and self injurious behaviors are rampant.
This is preventable. We, as providers, will see these individuals as patients when released. Ninety-five percent of those incarcerated will be released. As community members, we will walk, shop, eat, live with them. Do we want traumatized or rehabilitated individuals? Some of you may feel this issue does not pertain to you, but ethical guidelines of "first do no harm" and human rights concern us all.
I am hoping you will join me in signing the petition I wrote to end prolonged solitary confinement (greater than 15 days) in American jails, prisons, and detention centers. Please share with others. Click on link below to read and sign the petition.
https://www.change.org/p/helping-professional-organizations-end-prolonged-solitary-confinement
Photo credit: Tim Pearce/Flickr.com
Tomorrow, I have to go into a team meeting to discuss my son, Matthew, who suffers from schizophrenia. They want me to sign papers giving permission for them to start looking for a new placement for him. For my son and his beautiful mind. He has (for how many days?) been housed in a mental hospital ward, not the ideal place for your son to live but it’s the only place he’s been stable and safe for the past year.
After fourteen years of watching him suffer through depression, delusions, and overwhelming fear, (“Having a rough time“ — that’s what he would call the bad days) how does a parent do this? Sign their sick child away?
If you’ve never seen a young adult decompensate from schizophrenia, it’s like watching your loved one being tortured by his mind. You stand by helpless. Nothing you can do but love him enough to fight him to get the help he needs. I'm not sure if I’m brave enough to let him go after 53 odd hospitals stays, and five times tracking him down when he gets paranoid and does a walk-about. Will all the progress he's made, all the stability he's gained be lost?
The only place they can find for him to live is far away. Too far for weekly visits, too far for passes on Saturday or Sunday afternoons, too far to cherish the few family moments this illness allows us. Moments others take for granted — to sit and relax, to walk the dogs, to just be with family.
Yesterday was the best he’s been in years. Finding a comfortable, safe, and caring place for him to live shouldn’t be so difficult. But it doesn’t exist — not for our children who suffer from serious mental illness.
So I sit here shaking and wondering if will we survive another calculated risk. Another shift that could send Matthew back into the dark of his illness. He fights the horrible betrayal of his mind, and I fight a system that is broken, and a world that really doesn’t understand the failure to help those who suffer with serious mental illness unless it happens to one of their own.
I’m going to let this rest for now and enjoy the remainder of my day with our other son and his family. But tell me, what would you do if you had to walk into a meeting tomorrow and sign your sick child away? Would this broken system break your heart too?
Postscript: I want to thank everyone who had us in your prayers and thoughts yesterday. You will never know how much that means when we're navigating the unknown of finding a forever home for our son with SMI. I would also like to say thank you to his team who has cared and worked to get him so stable.
I could not sign our child away.
There is no cure for schizophrenia. Stable is as good as it gets and I want Matthew this stable for as long as humanly possible. Sending you all thank you's, hugs, and love.
Matthew and Sherri