Wake up America! 1 in 4 people will suffer a mental health problem in their lifetime. It’s time to provide care.

For many years THIS WAS MY (unconscious) “to do list.”

Living in the throes of untreated Bipolar Disorder and Addictions, keeping my head above water at a relatively basic level of social functioning was all I could muster much of the time. And I was no “great American success story” at that either.

I am one of the blessed people with an SMI who managed to remain “high functioning” enough to eke out a miserable existence, maintaining my freedom and a roof over my head. Save a few involuntary hospitalizations.

And most of the time, despite bouts of Clinical Depression and all manner of drama and chaos associated with Mania and acting out, I was able to get up and push myself to do what needed to be done to hold down menial jobs, pay the rent, buy groceries, hold together toxic relationships, and other “normal” aspects of survival.

Yet inside I was dying. And my self-hatred and self-destruction kept pushing me closer to the point of homelessness, prison, or suicide.

Far too many of our brothers and sisters fall prey to this triple headed Hydra. They are living, breathing human beings, left to wallow in the gutter like so much detritus, waste away in cages like animals, or die by suicide, whether it be immediate or slow motion self-destruction.

We as a society have ample means to fix our broken mental health care system. What’s missing is the willingness.

Wake up America! 1 in 4 people will suffer a mental health problem in their lifetime. It’s time to provide care.