Three minute plus video explains model crisis care system.

(10-26-20) What are we doing to create a better mental health care system?

CRISIS NOW, a four prong approach, is gaining national attention from SAMHSA and being endorsed by many of the nation’s largest mental health organizations, including The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Mental Health America, CIT International, RI International, the National Council for Behavioral Health, the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

That’s a powerful coalition so what is CRISIS NOW?

David Covington, the CEO and President of RI International, described the approach at a recent meeting of ISMICC, a federal panel appointed to advise Congress about the most innovative and best practices in mental health.

The goal behind CRISIS NOW is to create a uniform mental health system that is not so heavily dependent on the police and hospital emergency rooms. The first prong is creating Crisis Call Hubs, which can be contacted by voice, text, or chat through a specific telephone number rather than having those in crisis call 9-1-1. President Donald Trump recently signed into law bipartisan legislation identifying 9-8-8 as a three digit number for a Mental Health Crisis Hotline. Slated to go into effect nationally in July 2022, it will replace the current National Suicide Prevention Hotline, a more complicated 10-digit number — 1-800-273-TALK.

But this new number under the CRISIS NOW approach would offer much more than its predecessor.

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Daniel in Lion’s Den

I’m proud to announce that my son — identified as MIKE in my book and known by his friends as Kevin — will be showing a collection of his original paintings at the Jo Ann Rose Gallery in Reston,  1609-A Washington Plaza, Reston, VA 20190, during the month of August with an opening reception from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on August 5th, a Sunday.

If you are in the area and would like to meet my son and see his artwork, please attend the reception!

A 2005 graduate of Pratt Institute, where he earned a BFA in fine art with a concentration in painting, Kevin has titled his show, “Resilient.”

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We don’t know enough about the mind of the alleged Colorado shooter,  James Holmes,  to determine if he has a severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia, or if he was driven by some narcissistic, anti-social desire to hurt others and become infamous.

But as the father of an adult son with bipolar disorder, who has been arrested and who once fixated on a movie during a psychotic break, I’ve watched the public reaction to the horrific shootings in Aurora — and earlier ones in Tuscon and on the Virginia Tech University campus — with trepidation. As a nation, we are stumped by mental illnesses.

Some observations.

* These awful tragedies should turn attention on our nation’s woefully inadequate mental health care system. Instead, the spotlight always focuses on gun control. A possible reason is because people are afraid of being sympathetic or being viewed as excusing the acts of the gunman if they discuss mental illness. But how can we prevent future shootings if we don’t question why Seung-Hui Cho fell through the cracks in Virginia after he was declared “a danger to himself and others” or why Jared Lee Loughner’s schizophrenia went untreated? We ignore the elephant in the room — our nation’s failed mental health care system — at our own peril.

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