(12-15-20) Tomorrow I will be posting a blog about my participation with other authors in a mental health summit, but today I am sharing some joyous family news!

My son, Kevin Earley, who is identified in my book by his middle name, Michael, graduated this week from Virginia Commonwealth University with a Masters Degree in Social Work.

It has been 18 years since he was arrested after he broke into an unoccupied house to take a bubble bath during a psychotic break. He avoided being hamstrung for life by two felonies after he agreed to plead guilty to two lesser charges that remain on his record. It has been 14 years, since he was shot twice with a taser by Fairfax County police, handcuffed and driven to a mental health facility where I watched him lying on his belly with his hands cuffed behind him and his legs chained while talking nonsense to two police officers poking fun at him. It has been 12 years, since his last hospitalization – his fifth – when he finally acknowledged that he had bipolar disorder and decided to begin seeking help. Thankfully, he was supported by a wonderful social worker, Cyndi Anderson, caring doctors, his mother, Barbara Hunter, his “second set” of parents – Steve and Gillian Kussmann – my wife, Patti, and his siblings.

This has been a long journey for our family filled with challenges. Kevin once believed that he either would be in jail, homeless or dead because of his illness. He felt hopeless.

Today, he adds the MSW title to his name as he continues to work full-time in Arlington County, Va., as a peer specialist.

While I am a proud father, I am keenly aware that many of you have lost someone you love because of mental illness. I know many of you have a loved one currently in jail or prison because of mental illness. I know many of you have a loved one who is homeless or missing. I recognize that many of you are like I was in 2002 – panicked, unsure who to call, disbelieving that your child has a mental illness, angry because you can’t get help until your loved one is dangerous, and worried about an uncertain and scary future.

I am sharing our good news, not to boast, but to offer you hope and remind us all that most individuals with mental illnesses can and do get better if they get the individual help that they need.

Kevin joins his younger sister, Traci, as our second family member who has earned a Masters Degree and works in field. Her degree is in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and she assists clients at Pathways Homes.

I’m certain Traci chose her career because she saw what our family was going through trying to help Kevin. His illness impacted all of us and we are tremendously grateful, especially knowing how much he loathed school, that he didn’t give up and earned an MSW that he now will be able to put to good use helping others on their journeys to recovery.

(12-11-20) FROM MY FILES FRIDAY: Cynthia Kemp, a deputy director at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, told attendees at a mental health summit two years ago how Arlington County, Va., created a jail diversion program that now is considered one of the best in the nation. Her advice is worth reading.

How To Launch A Jail Diversion Program In YOUR community

“Begin by finding a champion,” Cynthia Kemp told the 300 community leaders, who were invited by Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy (R.) to a Louisiana Mental Health Summit in Baton Rogue. (A short news clip where both Sen. Cassidy and I are interviewed can be watched here.)

Kemp said it could be a judge, sheriff, police chief, state legislator, mayor – anyone who understands that locking up people who are sick is a waste of tax dollars and human potential.

Step Two: Hit the streets. Talk to the police to learn what problems they face because of persons with mental illnesses becoming entrapped in the criminal justice system. The National Alliance on Mental Illness  reports that 40% of persons with a serious mental illness will have an encounter with the police. By some estimates, as high as 49% of all fatal police shootings involve someone with a mental illness. Advocates must also speak with public defenders, judges, prosecutors, local mental health providers, parents and persons with lived experience – and identify what barriers they have encountered preventing individuals from getting community mental health care.

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The Definition of Insanity Film Documents The Success Of Judge Leifman’s Reforms In Miami Dade

(12-7-20) Miami Dade Judge Steven Leifman is my choice for the most impactful player in mental health during 2020.

For a decade, Judge Leifman has worked tirelessly to reform how our criminal justice system interacts with individuals with mental illnesses. He has traveled across the nation educating judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys about the so-called Miami Model that has become the gold standard in our nation for reducing violence, unnecessary arrests, and inappropriate incarceration. The model encourages recovery, reduces stigma, and gives individuals hope.

Judge Leifman’s approach has a proven and impressive track record.

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Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

(From My Files Friday) I first posted this plea from desperate parents eight years ago. Sadly, I continue to get similar emails today. Although I wrote this years ago, I feel much of it remains relevant. What suggestions would you offer to parents?

We’ve Lost Hope: A Plea from Parents Who Are Losing Hope

I am not a trained therapist, psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker. I’m just another parent. But each week, I receive emails from other parents seeking help. I answer emails when possible based on what I have learned as a father, not a professional. This is not medical advice. What follows is an email that is representative.

Dear Pete,

We have tried to get our son professional help. I think he has bipolar disorder, although he possibly could have schizophrenia. We know he has an alcohol addiction. He has not cooperated with hardly anything, and we’ve been unable to get him to go to our local mental health center, although officials there said he is eligible for treatment.

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Local attorney Peter Greenspun at last year’s NAMI Walks with firm attorneys, Liza Greenspun Yang, and Anastasia T. Kranias

(12-1-20) Giving Tuesday is here and, if you are able, today is a great opportunity to contribute to worthwhile non-profits.

I’m thrilled that locally, Fairfax, Va. Attorney Peter Greenspun, whose firm frequently defends clients with mental illnesses, is matching up to $15,000 in donations to the Northern Virginia Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The top donor will receive a one-week vacation at an Unlimited Vacation Club all-inclusive resort property, donated by Peter and Katherine Greenspun. Flights not included. Contact Peter Greenspun for details. 

In addition to NAMI, there are many other important and worthwhile non-profit organizations created to help individuals with mental illnesses. (Donate to NAMI national here.)

Here are three others that I have supported.

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(11-23-20) I’m excited to be participating in an upcoming two-day summit that will examine how we can reduce the inappropriate incarceration of individuals with mental illnesses in our jails and prisons. A few seats are still open for the free two-day events on December 14-16.

I’ll be joined by Dr. Christine Montross, author of Waiting for An Echo: The Madness of American Incarceration and Alisa Roth, author of Insane: America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness on Dec. 14th at noon on a panel discussing the criminal justice system. Our discussion will be moderated by Norman Ornstein, a nationally known political scientist who lost his son, Matthew, to mental illness. A limited number of copies of our books, including, CRAZY: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, were being mailed free of charge to attendees. I’m not sure if that is still being done but hope so. Attendees can ask all four of us questions via the Internet after the panel discussion.

Before our panel discussion, Altha Stewart, M.D., immediate past president of the American Psychiatric Association, will give a keynote address at 11 a.m. On Tuesday, Dec. 16th, Rebecca Messing Haigler, from Verily Life Sciences, will give the second day keynote followed by a panel discussion entitled What Does Mental Health Decriminalization Mean, featuring Judge Steve Leifman, who has reformed the criminal justice system’s approach to mental illness in Miami-Dade County; Debbie Plotnick, with Mental Health America; and Sandy Santana, executive director of Children’s Rights. That afternoon, Garen Staglin, chairman of One Mind, will present PechaKucha presentations – a storytelling format where a presenter shows 20 slides for 20 seconds of commentary each (6 minutes and 40 seconds total.)

The summit is the brainchild of William H. Carson, M.D., chair of the Sozosei Foundation, the charitable foundation created by Otsuka Pharmaceutical, whose neurosciences drugs include the atypical antipsychotic medications Abilify and Rexulti, the latter in partnership with Lundbeck. Both are approved to treat schizophrenia and as an add-on for major depressive disorder; Abilify is also approved for use in bipolar disorder.

I am not being paid to participate. I enthusiastically agreed after I was told by Melissa Beck, Sozosei Foundation’s executive director, that the Summit’s goal is to collaborate, create, and explore pathways to decriminalize mental illness.

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