Bestselling Author and Mental Health Advocate
I get emails every week from desperate parents seeking advice. Many have a son or daughter who’s been arrested. I remind them that I am not a lawyer, nor am I a social worker, psychologist or psychiatrist. I’m simply a father who became angry when my son got sick and I couldn’t get him meaningful help for his mental disorder.
The most common question that I am asked by other parents is:
How did you get your son to take his medication?
The answer is: I didn’t.
If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know one of my favorite quotes is attributed to Margaret Meade who said:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
One of my favorite things about traveling is getting to meet inspiring people who are changing their communities and improving the lives of persons with brain disorders.
Here are some examples.
As my recent flight began its descent into Dulles International Airport, I felt a sense of frustration, embarrassment and irritation. The cause is a lack of leadership in my home county by the Fairfax County Bar Association, Commonwealth’s Attorney, and our local judiciary. Those of us with loved ones who have severe mental disorders deserve better.
First, some background.
I was returning from Utah where I had been invited to give the opening keynote at the 1st Annual Intermountain Mental Health Court Conference being held at Utah State University. Before the conference, I’d appeared on the local NPR affiliate in Logan with Judge Kevin F. Allen, a District Court Judge who oversees a mental health court in Utah. A political conservative, Allen told listeners that he had been wary of mental health courts until he saw first-hand how they can help break the jail-streets-jail cycle that many persons with mental disorders get caught in and — also how the courts actually save tax dollars.
I have exciting news! The City of Baton Rouge has chosen, CRAZY: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, as its One Book, One Community selection this summer. 
In 2006, Baton Rouge joined more than 400 American cities that participate in this national reading program. In a letter informing me that CRAZY had been chosen, Abby Hannie, a member of the Baton Rouge’s program steering committee, explained:
The One Book, One Community initiative was formed to promote a common city-wide reading experience to increase intellectual and cultural dialogue among readers and to exchange ideas for the purpose of raising awareness and visibility with regard to a particular community issue.
The idea is to get everyone in a city to read and discuss the same book. Two of the most popular selections chosen since the first program was launched in 1998 in Seattle have been To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
That’s pretty heady company.
When I’m asked to recommend a speaker, I immediately mention four mental health advocates.
I’ve seen Fred Frese, PhD., talk for two hours and still leave the audience wanting more. Diagnosed with schizophrenia while in the U.S. Marine Corps, Fred could have easily ended-up in the back mental ward of a state institution, forgotten and 
overlooked. Instead, he managed to win his freedom, take control over his symptoms and become a strident consumer advocate. Along the way, he earned a doctorate in psychology, ran a hospital ward and taught as a professor. As a speaker, he is an emotional powerhouse who causes listeners to leap to their feet.
I was speaking to a Virginia state legislator one day about how programs such as Crisis Intervention Teams, jail diversion and mental health courts can save public tax dollars and actually help persons with mental disorders get help rather than sitting untreated in jail cells.
“You aren’t from Virginia are you?” the legislator suddenly asked. 
“I wasn’t born here, but I have lived in Northern Virginia since 1978,” I replied.
He snickered and said, “I thought so. Do you know what Mark Twain said about Virginia, son?”
“No.”
“Mark Twain said if the world ever ended, he wanted to live in Virginia because things happened in Virginia seventy-five years after the rest of the country.”
Pete Earley is the bestselling author of such books as The Hot House and Crazy. When he is not spending time with his family, he tours the globe advocating for mental health reform.
As a former reporter for The Washington Post, Pete uses his journalistic background to take a fair-minded approach to the story all while weaving an interesting tale for the reader.