Don’t leave out people with the most severe mental illnesses
The mental health “big tent” is often praised for its inclusivity, but not everyone inside it is equally visible. For the past 18 years, my family has watched our son — who lives with a severe mental illness — disappear within a system that increasingly listens only to the voices of those who are far less impaired. Our son has gone through the harmful churn of 30 hospitalizations, multiple community and residential facilities, and repeated episodes of untreated psychosis that have left him with less insight to his own illness, and more at risk for criminalization, homelessness, ...
