Healing: Our Path From Mental Illness to Mental Health
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Abstract
In 2008, during a Texas Mental Health Transformation stakeholder meeting in Austin, families and individuals with lived experience were invited to speak. They followed a whirlwind of powerful presentations by scientists and high-powered administrators. At the time, I was working as the project director for the North Texas Transformation initiative, as an early career research administrator. My mandate was to complete a needs assessment for the 6-county North Texas region; there was a lot to take in with an eye toward implementation and improving near-term outcomes. Near the end of the meeting, I will never forget how a mother of a young adult suffering from schizophrenia rose and said what shocked many. Paraphrasing here, she exclaimed, “Your treatments are fine, but what we truly need is housing and employment.” To this day, this parent’s anguish continues to guide what little I can do to facilitate care and help with long-term planning for those suffering from severe mental illness.