Natasha McKenna: Police Mugshot

2-13-15  This photo shows Natasha McKenna, a 37 year-old woman with schizophrenia, when she was booked into the Fairfax County Jail. Eight days later, she left that jail in an ambulance with two black eyes, a missing middle finger,  severe bruising the length of her left arm and unconscious. She didn’t survive.

What happened in that jail?

A blog that I posted about McKenna on Tuesday of this week (2-11-15) posed that question. Thankfully, reporters in the Washington area who were sent my blog decided to investigate. The Washington Post published an editorial today (2-13) and our local NBC and CBS affiliates also broadcast stories. WTOP, the most popular radio station in the area, chimed in too.  My goal was to alert the public. Persons with mental illnesses need treatment, not incarceration.

When I look at Natasha’s face, I think about my own son, who was tasered by Fairfax Police one night when when he was delusional. I think about how fortunate I am that he did not end up as she did.

Natasha McKenna had a mental illness. That shouldn’t have been a death sentence.

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Colorado Democratic Representative Diane DeGette said she was “appalled” by the brutal questioning of SAMHSA Director Pamela Hyde during a House subcommittee hearing Wednesday. DeGette’s irritation was aimed at two House Republicans who verbally attacked Hyde and her agency, one personally belittling her as a witness.

Representatives Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Chris Collins (R-NY) irked DeGette, the ranking minority member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, when they grilled Hyde about agency priorities and her leadership.

Mullin led the two-punch attack during the hearing that was called by Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) the committee chair, who last year asked the General Accountability Office to investigate SAMSHA. It issued its report last week.

You can watch Mullin interrogate Hyde by going to 1:36.37 on the YouTube video.

After posting a snapshot of a SAMHSA website called Building Blocks For A Healthy Future on a television monitor, Mullin explained the webpage was designed to teach small children about substance abuse by having them sing songs about healthy living to the tune of Old McDonald and Yankee Doodle Dandy. Click to continue…

Washington Post Photo

A week ago, The Washington Post published a front-page story about Alison Hymes, a self-described psychiatric survivor, long-time Virginia mental health advocate and person living with mental illness.

Reporter Annys Shin’s story was headlined:

      SHE FOUGHT FOR PATIENTS’ RIGHTS, THEN HER’S WERE STRIPPED AWAY.

I met Ms. Hymes when we both were appointed to a task force appointed by the Chief Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court to draft new language for civil involuntary commitment criteria.

From the start, Ms. Hymes and I bumped heads.

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Moments before the show

For those of you who missed it, Jessie Close, Glenn Close and I were on the Diane Rehm Show this morning (2-5-2015) talking about mental illness and our new book, RESILIENCE: Two Sisters and a Story of Mental Illness.  Here is a link to the program.

Highlights for me were hearing Glenn read one of the vignettes that she wrote for our book and also listening to Jessie read the first two pages of the book’s Prologue where she describes a screaming voice inside her head urging her to end her life. Their readings truly captured the emotion and power of their written words.

A listener asked for our reaction to Fox News Radio Host Tom Sullivan’s recent claim  that Bipolar Disorder is “made up” and a “fad.” Click to continue…