Jennifer Marshall Talks About Recovery In Front Page Washington Post Story. Bravo!

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jennifermarshall

 

(5-3-16) I am so grateful to Jennifer Marshall for continuing to combat stigma by speaking out about her mental illness and recovery! The co-founder of This Is My Brave was featured yesterday in a major front page story in The Washington Post about individuals with mental disorders who have talked openly about their illnesses and recovery. Bravo to all of them and to The Washington Post for publishing such an important story of hope on its front page.

Unwell and unashamed

The stigma of mental illness is under attack by sufferers, who are coming out publicly and defiantly

Story by Colby Itkowitz, photos by Amanda Coisard, The Washington Post.

For several years, she wrote about her bipolar disorder under a pseudonym. She described how she’d been hospitalized four times, twice since her first child was born. She explained how she went off her medication during both of her pregnancies and how each time — once as the mother of a newborn and then again weeks into her second pregnancy — she was escorted from her home in police handcuffs, defiant.

She blogged to connect and reach other mothers grappling with mental illness. Ultimately, however, she decided that hiding her identity was actually perpetuating the shame long associated with mental disorders.

So even as her parents urged her not to, Jennifer Marshall in 2013 typed her real name on a blog post, hit publish and waited for the reaction.

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“Not all illness can be cured with sunshine and fresh air,” Blogger says.

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(6-2-16) Jenni Chiu, who writes a blog at Mommy Nani Booboo, recently spotted an Internet post that stated sunshine and fresh air were the best treatment for mental illnesses and that medication was SH**. She posted her 3:19 minute response on Youtube. Reaffirming that there is no one size fits all solution for depression and other severe mental disorders. Thank you Jenni.)

 

Telling My Family’s Story At The Famed City Club Of Cleveland

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(5-31-16) Thank you to the City Club of Cleveland for allowing me to speak during Mental Health Awareness Month about how we need to stop the jailing of persons with mental illnesses. For more than a hundred years, the club has featured some of the most famous and controversial speakers in our country, including U.S. Supreme Court Justices, Presidents, astronauts, advocates such as Russell Means and Sister Helen Prejean, and my good friend, Bryan Stevenson. Many of you already are familiar with my family’s story and have read my book, but I continue to share it with others who often are shocked to learn that Americans who are clearly sick often end up incarcerated for minor crimes because of their illness. In this speech, I mentioned the starvation death of Jamycheal Mitchell in Portsmouth, Va. who was jailed for 101 days after allegedly taking $5 worth of snacks from a convenience store while psychotic.

Here is what NAMI Cleveland posted after my speech.

A CULTURAL SHADOW LIKE NO OTHER: THE WAREHOUSING OF THE MENTALLY ILL

NAMI Greater Cleveland

May 20, 2016

Jails and prisons have become de facto psychiatric “hospitals” (institutions) which warehouse the seriously mentally ill.  We know that 20 percent of inmates in jails and 15 percent of inmates in state prisons have a serious mental illness (356,000), more than 10 times the number of those that remain at state psychiatric hospitals. Seventy percent of adolescents in juvenile correctional facilities have a mental health condition, and 40 percent of individuals with serious mental illnesses have been in jail or prison at some time in their lives.

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Va. Senator Creigh Deeds’ Eloquent Words Capture Parents’ Frustration With System: Speaks at Capitol Summit

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(5-30-16) If you wish to know why parents of adult children with mental illnesses are frustrated by today’s failing mental health system, listen to Virginia state Senator Creigh Deeds’ powerful and eloquent keynote speech that begins at 3:05:05 on the video posted above. (Don’t worry, it is only a few minutes long.)

Senator Deeds’ observations about the problems he encountered because of federal HIPAA laws, mirror comments that I receive each week from bewildered parents.

Deeds was the featured speaker at a U.S. Senate Summit on Mental Health held by Senators Bill Cassidy (R. La.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) last week to whip up support for their bipartisan bill, the Mental Health Reform Act, which is making its way through the Senate. Both are hopeful that some version of it could be sent to the White House this summer to be signed into law.

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John Oliver Explains Our Failed Mental Health System

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From my files Friday: This snippet, which I posted last October, remains one of the best when it comes to explaining our failed mental health system. If you didn’t watch it previously, check it out. It is well worth your time. Meanwhile, please remember the significance of Memorial Day.

 

Virginia Attorney General Complains About My Editorial: Okay, Why Isn’t He Investigating Starvation Death?

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markherring

The Virginia Attorney General’s office has complained about an opinion piece that I wrote last week in The Washington Post that accused the state of failing to adequately investigate the death of Jamycheal Mitchell. He is the 24 year-old inmate with schizophrenia who died last August from a heart attack caused by starvation after he was arrested for allegedly stealing $5 of snacks from a convenience store and spent 101 days in jail.

In a letter to the newspaper, Cynthia E. Hudson, the chief deputy attorney general, wrote:

Contrary to Pete Earley’s May 15 Local Opinions essay, “Awaiting answers on Jamycheal Mitchell’s death,” the Office of the Attorney General has never and would never advise a client agency to obstruct an investigation. 

Ms. Hudson stated:

Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) shares the “concerns and the frustration of many Virginians over the lack of clear answers surrounding Mitchell’s death.”

Really?

Here’s a reminder of the shenanigans that have happened in Virginia revolving around Mitchell’s death.

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