What if: the mental health system would pay more attention, take more steps to help , before tragedy, violence, or crime finally calls attention to symptoms of SMI (serious mental illness)?
What if Darrell Brooks (charged with murder after plowing his mother’s car into a parade in Wisconsin) had been helped, and treated, instead of ignored or imprisoned? His mother, Dawn Woods, wrote a letter to the media. She, too, is a “mom in the trenches”. So is journalist/advocate/mindfulness coach Jerri Clark, our guest for this episode.
What if Jerri’s son Calvin had received treatment, despite his “civil right ”to refuse it - although the refusal itself is a symptom of his illness?
She says:
“I watched my son delivered into society’s underbelly by design. He spent months homeless, met law enforcement again and again, and tried multiple times to die. These traumas are part of a tragic inventory of the requirements for public assistance when someone has a serious mental illness”
Her son Calvin was 23 when he died from suicide March 18, 2019.
She is the founder of MOMI–Mothers of the Mentally Ill, and talks with us about her family story, and her path to purpose and redefining her life - and Calvin’s life.


Links:
Mary Oliver, “The Journey” Poem:
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DedeRanahan’s book (she is our guest on Episodes 4 and 5): Tomorrow Was Yesterday
Pete earley’s post about Jerri Clark:
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PBS link: (Brief But Spectacular segment on PBS news hour)
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Jerri’s Story:
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Who Are the 3 Moms?
ant us to cover a topic? Ask us a question? Facebook page @Schizophrenia3Moms
Randye Kaye -Broadcaster, Actress, Voice Talent, Speaker, and Author (“Ben Behind his Voices”)
Miriam Feldman – Artist, Mom, Author “He Came in With It”
Mindy Greiling – member of the Minnesota House of Representatives for twenty years. Activist, Legislator, Author (“Fix What You Can“)

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