CBS Nightly News called me this week to ask if I would talk on camera about Crisis Intervention Team Training for law enforcement. The call was prompted by the release of a video that shows police officers shooting Lavall Hall, a 25 year-old black man, in Miami, Florida.  I explained that I couldn’t talk directly about the Hall case, but I happily explained to a producer what CIT is and why it is important. I then suggested the producer call Sam Cochran, who is widely seen as the “Father of CIT,” and Mike Woody, a former Ohio police officer who is president of CIT International. 

Although CBS passed on interviewing me on camera, I was thrilled to get the call because it showed that news outlets are becoming more aware of CIT and the need for specialized police training.

The Hall shooting is an all to common example of how things can go wrong when police are called to deal with a medical problem.

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Hinton with Stevenson

Bryan Stevenson has done it again!

Anthony Ray Hinton, one of the longest serving death row prisoners in Alabama history, has been exonerated thanks to Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative  that he founded. Hinton spent 30 years incarcerated for a crime that he did not commit.

I describe in my book, Circumstantial Evidence, how Stevenson proved another black man on Alabama’s death row innocent more than two decades ago. Walter “Johnny D” McMillian was condemned to death for the 1986 murder of a white teenage girl after two witnesses testified that they’d seen his truck parked at the scene of the killing and another witness claimed that he actually had see McMillian standing over the dead girl during a robbery.  The case against McMillian seemed indisputable until Stevenson began investigating.

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From My Files Friday: One of the most widely read posts on this website was written by Kathleen Maloney about her husband Joe. Here’s that original blog along with an update about a surprising decision that Kathleen has made.

What I went through while trying to get Joe help, and watching him suffer for so long, has changed me. It gave my life purpose and meaning. After telling our story,  I received hundreds of emails and phone calls from people all over America, and even as far away as Australia. They all shared similar stories: Spouses caring for husbands or wives, sisters caring for brothers, daughters caring for fathers. Many were heartbreaking because these people were coping without help. They were and are alone.

This year, I will finish the memoir I’ve been working on since Joe’s death, and I will begin the arduous task of finding a publisher. This year, I also plan to move to Ireland, which I visited during a vacation in search of my roots. Stigma of mental illness in Ireland is even more prevalent than it is here in the United States. Suicides are at an all-time high, especially among young males ages 20 to 24. So, after I get settled, I plan to help raise awareness and reduce the stigma of mental illness in Ireland. (Read more at the end of this blog about Kathleen’s ongoing story.)

Bipolar Disorder Destroyed Joe’s Life

  By Kathleen Maloney

My husband Joe and I enjoyed 18 wonderful years together. We had a beautiful daughter and our lives were filled with love, laughter, joy, hard work and exciting plans for the future.

That was before he got sick, before he was diagnosed with a mental illness.

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The chronic homeless have always been drug addicts, alcoholics or individuals with mental illnesses, most of whom also are abusing substances. But they are being joined by another category of men who are modern day lepers.

Sexual offenders are finding it impossible to obtain housing after they are released from jail or prison. Many states and municipalities have stringent rules about where registered sex offenders can live. As soon as they disclose their criminal background, landlords reject their applications. Sexual offenders end up being released to shelters where they are as unwelcome as they are anywhere else. They quickly disappear onto the streets.

This growing housing problem was brought to my attention during a recent board meeting of the Corporation for Supportive Housing, a national non-profit organization that Patti and I financially support. CSH helps cities and states build supportive housing units with wrap around services. It is the only organization whose board I serve on and it is at the tip of the spear when it comes to helping vulnerable populations, especially persons with mental illnesses.

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From My Files Friday: 3-27-15) Rep. Tim Murphy’s controversial Helping Families In Mental Health Crisis Act never made it out of a House committee last year, but the Pennsylvania Republican says some form of it will become law this year now that he has found a Democrat in the Senate willing to support his controversial reform efforts. In a press release last month, Murphy reported that Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy had discussed “areas of agreement” with him that made both of them believe “Congress could act and pass a bill during the current session.” That statement came as a surprise to the Democrats in the House who I polled. They insist the bill will remain buried in committee unless Murphy agrees to drop several changes, including his attempts to reduce the size and importance of SAMHSA and drop his push for Assisted Outpatient Treatment. Stay tuned. Here’s a blog that I wrote in December 2013 when his initial bill was introduced. 

Rep. Murphy’s Bill Would Shift Focus: Make Major Changes In Mental Health Care

Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) introduced legislation today that would make significant changes in our nation’s mental health care system.

Spurred by the mass killings in Newtown, Murphy’s proposed bill,  The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act , would slow the current push in the mental health community toward self-determination at any and all costs toward a more paternalistic view.

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Mental Health Recovery Now

By Leah Harris

“Recovery is a process, a way of life, an attitude, and a way of approaching the day’s challenges. It is not a perfectly linear process. At times our course is erratic and we falter, slide back, regroup and start again… The need is to meet the challenge of the disability and to re-establish a new and valued sense of integrity and purpose within and beyond the limits of the disability; the aspiration is to live, work and love in a community in which one makes a significant contribution.” — Pat Deegan, Ph.D.

I am the daughter of two people diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. They did not recover. They died tragically and young, as far too many people with these diagnoses do. I mourn their loss every single day of my life. And yet I am an unwavering advocate for mental health recovery.

As an adolescent, I attempted suicide a number of times. I also experienced periods of believing I was the secret Messiah, seeing divine messages on the sides of buses and in TV commercials. I once barricaded myself in my room with knives, necessitating a call to the police, who took me away in handcuffs in the back of a squad car. At age 16, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and was told in numerous direct and indirect ways: You have a genetically inherited biological brain disease that you will have for life. You will not be able to manage this disease without lifelong dependence on our systems of care. You will have to put your dreams on hold and avoid all forms of stress in order to be able to manage your illness successfully.

The outcome of these hopeless and disempowering messages was that at eighteen years old, I found myself sitting in a squalid group home, where I was told I would remain for life. I had no high school diploma and no job. I was on the direct track to poverty, chronic disability, and premature mortality.

With the support of my family, I managed to escape the group home. A particularly empathetic and supportive teacher helped me to get educational accommodations. Not only did I graduate from high school, but I went on to college, then obtained a graduate degree from Georgetown University. Yet even with these successes, I felt like a fraud. I hid my psychiatric history from everyone I knew, ashamed, and continued to struggle deeply, even as I “performed” and “achieved.”

In my mid twenties, I heard a different message for the very first time: People can and do recover, from even the most serious mental illness. The idea that I could recover was a revelation to me. It gave me a sense of possibility going forward that I had never felt before. My life was forever changed, for the better.

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