Yes, yes, yes. If you read our earlier post on the statistics of mental illness in this country, many of the numbers cited by John Oliver will be familiar. But this video is still well worth watching:

We received some very wise advice recently - what's the data on the problem we are trying to solve? Turns out it is not hard to find, there's more information than can be reasonably summarized in a single blog. Here's some compelling information (Information and quotes from the linked articles, although we have added emphasis):

• "People with untreated psychiatric illnesses constitute one-third, or approximately 250,000, of the estimated 744,000 homeless population."  (Treatment Advocacy Center, 2011)
  
• "One-third of visits to emergency rooms are by the homeless and the annual costs range from $18,500-$44,400 a year" (Green Doors)
• Salt Lake City did a study that showed the average cost to taxpayers for each homeless person was $20,000 a year. Giving them a home and services costs $8,000/year. Colorado did a similar study and each individual went from $43,000/year to $17,000/year (paraphrased from The New Yorker, September 2014)
• "2006 study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that over half of all jail and prison inmates have mental health issues; an estimated 1.25 million suffered from mental illness, over four times the number in 1998". (Huffington Post, Sept 2013)
  

Here at The Living Assistance Fund we continue to explore ways to help and support these broader solutions. In the meantime, our fund raising focuses on helping individuals and families BEFORE someone becomes homeless or ends up in jail. On the short term, that looks more expensive (3 months of care might cost the same as a year on the streets), but this is only partially a monetary effort. For one thing, few people are only homeless or imprisoned for one year. For another, if that entire experience can be avoided that is hugely better for the individual and their family.  Help us or help one of these organizations. Raise consciousness about the real price we are paying, as a society, by turning a blind eye to the lack of care for our most severely mentally ill. Use Twitter, Facebook, tell your friends!

While at the McLean National Council event in October, a colleague said something that has been reverberating in my head lately. Why is it that when someone is diagnosed with a mental illness we say, “Joe is a paranoid schizophrenic” or “Mary is bipolar”? We would never say, “John is cancerous” when someone is diagnosed with cancer.  We would say "John has cancer." This mode of speech is defining the individual by their illness, not as someone who has an illness.  Ironically, the only illness I can think of besides mental illnesses where this happens is diabetes. We definitely say “Sally is diabetic.”  Not sure why these seem to go together.

On the one hand we define a person entirely by their mental illness through speech at the same time that we trivialize their diagnosis by using those same diagnoses as figures of speech.  There’s a great article here  on that point (another reason this is on my mind).  The one that gets under my skin the most (and I heard it at work in the last week), is when someone cannot make up their mind about something and say “I’m so schizophrenic.”  Talk about something you really don’t want to have!

It’s like a song I can’t get out of my head…  is anyone else hearing this tune? What do you think about this? Please comment or send an email to livingassistancefund@outlook.com!

The recent 60 Minutes segment: Denied is opening up a conversation in the media that is long overdue. Through this, we learned about the work that Patrick Kennedy has been doing to establish parity of coverage. Check out the Kennedy Forum website for more information and to see his interview with CBS on their morning show. 

If only parity would mean residential care - it actually doesn't. And as the 60 Minutes segment shows, residential care remains expensive and unpaid. 

Excited to be hearing a national conversation at long last on these topics, along with the relationship to stigma about mental illness and its treatment. Everyone can do their part by speaking out and talking openly on these topics. 

As the year closes out (where did 2014 go?), here at the Living Assistance Fund we are reflecting on our first year of existence.  In less than a year, while keeping our "day jobs," we have been able to 

• Make our first grant which made a huge difference in the course of illness for a young college-age man - both by providing 3 months of care, but making him eligible for an additional month of care that some of the staff as described as "transformative."
• Meet lots of great people who have donated their money, their time, their ideas and support. In a short amount of time, we have learned a lot about many aspects of this mission - not just raising money, but making a difference to more than one family at a time. 
  
• Create our logo, business cards and website (no small feat)

We are talking about where we need to take things in 2015 to step up to the next level. If you have ideas or knowledge - drop us a line or post on this blog!

I’ve had an interesting couple of days at the McLean National Council meeting. While it was a great event, with lots of things to learn, there were a couple of amazing highlights for me

• At lunch on Thursday with the clinicians and key staff, an Appleton staffer was able to share that our scholarship recipient is doing very well, being discharged and that our gift has made a dramatic change in his life. I will readily admit that I got choked up upon hearing that.  It is why we are doing this! 
• Elyn Saks was the speaker at the dinner on Wednesday night. It was a revelation to hear her speak, talk about her experiences and memories of being psychotic as well as her journey into acceptance of taking medication. Elyn established the Saks Institute and I had the opportunity to discuss with her the topic of insufficient residential care, particularly for those who cannot afford it. Elyn thought that might be an interesting topic for the Institute in 2015 and I will be in touch with her early in the New Year.  We received her book (The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness) as a gift and I look forward to reading it. 

Beyond those highlights, there was information on amazing research that is happening at McLean on PTSD, anabolic steroid use, cardiac concerns for psychotic patients and much, much, more. It was a very busy day and a half and there’s so much to think through, that I’m sure there’s another blog here. 

We just got the news that our LAF scholarship recipient was awarded the Ashforth Family scholarship for the month of October…so he will have a total of 4 months and one week paid for at Appleton!!! He qualified for application to this scholarship because he was already at Appleton through LAF. 

In late June we were made aware of a young man in need of assistance from our fund. He is college age and has been able to receive hospital care through his parents health insurance, but the family was unable to pay for the residential care he needed.  He had been an in-patient at McLean Hospital several times earlier in the year as he would cycle in and out of the hospital. He really needed the support of a residential program and he met our criteria of having a psychotic disorder. 

With the help of generous donors (like you) in a very short amount of time (Dec 2013 to July 2014), we were able to fund him at McLean Appleton for the three months the clinical team believed he needed.  As is often the case, as he is approaching the end of the time (end of September), the team has determined that he would really benefit from some more time. We no longer have the funds to help, but he is now eligible for another program that provides financial assistance for Appleton. That fund requires that someone already be in care and will help families extend for a short period of time. So, not only were we able (with your help!) to provide initial residential care, but due to that, he was eligible for this other program. We believe we have made a significant difference in his recovery (at least we hope so!) 

So please, donate if you can, but also please  tell others about our work. We anxiously want to be ready when the next opportunity comes to help someone in need. The need comes up very quickly, and we need to be in a position to act so that it can be a smooth transition from hospitalization to residential care.