Photo courtesy of Pixabay

(7-20-20) I’m encouraging discussion about calls to shift responsibility for Americans with serious mental illnesses away from law enforcement back to social services and the medical community. Dr. Mark Munetz, Professor and Chair Emeritus of Psychiatry at Northeast Ohio Medical University, is co-author of the Sequential Intercept Model that is widely used by law enforcement and communities to identify key intersections when someone with a mental illness can be “intercepted” and receive treatment, especially after they enter the criminal justice system. I greatly admire Dr. Munetz who today offers his views on policing and mental illnesses. 

I’m Not Enthusiastic About Defunding The Police

Guest Blog By Mark Munetz

Funding for treatment and support of individuals with mental illness in America is woefully inadequate.  I spent my career as a psychiatrist advocating to change this.  So one might think I would be enthusiastic about the current call to defund the police and use some of the savings to increase mental health funding so that mental health professionals can respond to mental health crises rather than police.

But that is not the case.

Serious mental disorders affect approximately one out of 20 adults.  At best, half receive treatment.  Without treatment these conditions can be disabling and result in startling rates of premature death.  We know that treatment works but our systems are inadequate to engage many with the greatest needs.  All too many end up in jail or prison.  Today there are ten times as many people with serious mental illness in our nation’s jails and prisons than in psychiatric hospitals.

I have spent much of the past two decades working to address this complex problem.  While increased mental health funding is necessary to address the over-representation of people with mental illness in the justice system, it alone is not sufficient.  We also must address larger societal problems like poverty, homelessness and systemic racism. There cannot be a zero-sum game of funding for the police and human services.  We need to increase our overall funding for human services including what I call re-invented police work.

There is a model of such policing.

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(7-22-20) Advocates who have written for my blog or spoken to me personally are releasing three new books about mental illness. The titles are:

A Family Guide to Mental Health Recovery: What You Need to Know from Day One by Virgil Stucker and Stephanie McMahon.

He Came In With It: A Portrait of Motherhood and Madness by Miriam Feldman

Fix What You Can by Mindy Greiling

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Photo courtesy of Pixabay

(7-20-20) In a blog last week, Genevieve Johnson, wrote about how she called the police when her husband, Bryan, was experiencing a mental health crisis. He attempted “suicide by cop” and ended up being arrested. From his jail cell, Bryan now describes the incident from his vantage point. Today’s blog is one of a series of blogs about the need to shift responsibility for individuals in crisis away from the police back to social service and the medical community. As always, I welcome your comments on my Facebook page.

Hospital Bed, Yet Jail Cell Instead

Guest blog by Bryan Johnson, currently an inmate in a Florida jail

“Pull your guns out!” I yell to the officers as I emerge from the kitchen into the dining room where they are standing.

I violently wake up and roll over to see the metal bars in front of me; concrete walls all around. I come to the realization that the nightmare is not yet over, it has just begun.

I’m serving 18 months in prison, all because I was suicidal and charged with not just one felony, but three. I have no previous convictions nor rap sheet to speak of. This is my first-time doing jail time and I don’t understand why this happened to a man who simply wanted to die.

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The chief attending a This Is My Brave show. Shown with Jeanne Comeau, NAMI Northern Virginia’s Executive Director, and This Is My Brave co-founder Jennifer Marshall. This Is My Brave shows feature individuals with mental illnesses telling their stories about recovery.

(The photo above has nothing to do with the stabbing incident. Jeanne Comeau and Jennifer Marshall were not at the church. I picked the photo because it is an example of Chief Roessler’s support of mental health in our community. I apologize for the confusion.)

(7-19-20) I’m happy that Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. was not seriously injured yesterday when an armed man burst into a bible class that the chief and his wife, Gina, were attending and attacked a minister.

A fellow church member, who hurried to defend the pastor, and the minister both were stabbed. Chief Roessler was bitten several times on his arms while helping disarm the assailant.  All three were taken to a local hospital but none of the injuries was reported to be life threatening. The attacker was arrested but not injured.

A county police officer told the Washington Post that the attacker, who has not yet been publicly identified, was mentally ill, but there was no further explanation. It was unclear if the claim was based on biographical information or simply speculation because of how the attack unfolded. I do not believe someone should be described as having a mental illness unless there has been a confirmed diagnosis.

(Update: I was able to confirm this afternoon that the attacker has a serious mental illness.  Also, one of the stabbing victims was injured more severely than initially reported. The minister was scheduled to be discharged from a hospital today, but the congregant who ran to assist him was stabbed in an artery,  and required surgery but is expected to be okay.) 

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(7-15-20) Discussions about shifting responsibility for Americans with serious mental illnesses, who are in crisis, away from the police need to continue. Families are being torn apart when the police and criminal justice system respond to calls – often times at the request of family members  – because of a lack of adequate community social services. 

My Husband Needed Help, Instead He’s In Jail

Guest blog by Genevieve Johnson

“You can go to hell too, bitch. I hope you die! I HOPE YOU DIE! Do you see what you’ve done to me? You’ve ruined me, you’ve ruined every man you’ve ever been with. You’ve ruined these children! You bitch!”

It was August of 2018 when my husband screamed these nasty words at me as three deputies escorted him handcuffed out of our home. Beautiful family photos of better days lined every wall in our home. I knew better than to let the words my husband said in the midst of a manic episode get to me.

But they cut so deep and I could feel my face scrunch up as I tried so hard not to cry. The tears flowed anyways as my heart shattered.

I quickly composed myself to go outside to get our four children out of our minivan. They were sweaty from football and cheerleading practice. A female deputy tried to get them out of the van as quickly as possible by turning their trip into our house into a game. She didn’t want them to see their loving father being carted away in handcuffs.

This man, the one who screamed at me that he wished I would die, was not my husband of five years. He was not the man who was my best friend and rock before we became a couple. He was not the man who adopted my older two children to raise and love as his own. His illness had stolen that amazing man away from me and our children.

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