Make Them Hear You

We’re going to be talking about the medical and treatment systems’ neglect of BIPOC communities, and how this neglect drives criminalization of mental illness in black and brown people – especially young black and brown men. Did your mother play Saturday morning clean up music? My mother had a heavy rotation of James Brown, Gil Scott and Bob Marley. When it came to Bob Marley, Get up Stand up and...

Today we are talking about the Two Olmstead's - a conversation about community. What is it? Some communities are easy to pinpoint, like a business community defined by trade. Others, a little less so, like church community defined by denomination. Even less than that, online communities defined by activity or even something less tangible, communities like Black twitter or SMI twitter. Others c...

Today we’re going to get right to the heart of the biggest controversy in the treatment of people with severe mental illness: involuntary treatment, and what gives another person the right to intervene when their loved one is not willing to seek or accept treatment. This, more than any other issue, is the determinant for what our systems of treatment look like. It affects what our laws allow, and...

We’re going to explore the danger that our disjointed and underfunded patchwork of services places family members and loved ones in when we put all the responsibility on them for people who won’t seek treatment on their own. In our first episode, we heard about Corey Miner Smith’s terrifying experience of violence at her mother’s hands during psychosis. Today we’re going to get into how our stubbo...

July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month! Celebrate with us by re-listening to the first four episodes of Make Them Hear You as we re-release them with additional audio discussing their importance and impact during this month. Olachi Tiffani Etoh  made headlines after being  arrested  in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport for kidnapping a child while in the throes of psychosis. For years she struggled...

July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month! Celebrate with us by re-listening to the first four episodes of Make Them Hear You as we re-release them with additional audio discussing their importance and impact during this month. For over 20 years Margot Dashiell has served as her son’s primary caregiver. During this time she pieced together her own network of organizations, support and service...

July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month! Celebrate with us by re-listening to the first four episodes of Make Them Hear You as we re-release them with additional audio discussing their importance and impact during this month. Individuals with a diagnosis of severe mental are often the victims of harm. Harm can be criminalization, an inability to provide basic needs, self-harm such as suicid...

July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month! Celebrate with us by re-listening to the first four episodes of Make Them Hear You as we re-release them with additional audio discussing their importance and impact during this month. When  Corey Minor Smith 's mother was significantly affected by untreated paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, she was no longer able to care for Smith. Sm...

Listen to today's podcast update for important information regarding the podcast's timeline moving forward. "Make Them Hear You" will continue in July for Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month . In the meantime, please stay connected on our social media pages . Email podcast@treatmentadvocacycenter.org to share your story. "Make Them Hear You&qu...

Olachi Tiffani Etoh made headlines after being  arrested  in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport for kidnapping a child while in the throes of psychosis. For years she struggled to cope with her diagnosis of bipolar and it eventually led to this devastating event. Yet, after years of perseverance, Olachi is on the other side of these challenges and can now share her story of success. Today Olachi shares her...

For over 20 years Margot Dashiell has served as her son’s primary caregiver. During this time she pieced together her own network of organizations, support and services to ensure her son’s survival. When she found few safe spaces to talk about race and severe mental illness, she created her own organizations. Currently she is on the board of the African American Family Outreach Project , which hel...

Individuals with a diagnosis of severe mental are often the victims of harm. Harm can be criminalization, an inability to provide basic needs, self-harm such as suicide, or harm from a lack of community support and resources. Sometimes that harm is fatal.  And sometimes that harm comes from the very institutions meant to keep us safe.  Monica Peltier will share her family’s story : how s...

When Corey Minor Smith 's mother was significantly affected by untreated paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, she was no longer able to care for Smith. Smith was able to survive her mother’s untreated schizophrenia by relying on her village of friends, family and mentors. When Smith became an adult, the roles reversed, and she found herself prematurely responsible for her mother’s care. No...

10 million diagnosed. 3 billion dollars. Thousands of lives lost. You know the numbers. You've read the headlines. You've said their names. But you haven't heard their stories. The experiences of families of color are a powerful and missing element from our national narrative around our failed mental health system. As the oldest national non-profit dedicated to eliminating barriers to treatment fo...