A helping hand full of Shame, Blame and Scorn

I was looking at the news headlines today and saw an article about the shooting tragedy in Aurora.   The article was focused on the healing of the community one year later.  

This article had a link to another article about mental health and if it has improved one year later.
You can read that article by clicking here.

Colorado and several other states have begun to put money into their mental health system instead of decades of cuts.    Colorado was among the states that took Medicaid expansions.    Medicaid expansions come with the parity bill attached.    The parity bill states that healthcare for medical illness and healthcare for mental illness need to be equal.
But, remember that it took a tragedy to get these services.   Otherwise, it would be business as usual.  Cuts and more cuts, served with shame.

But what about states that did not take the Medicaid expansions?  What is mental health care like in those states?

My state did not take the Medicaid expansions.   My state thus did not have to follow the parity bill.  My state does not have to make treatment equal.   My state actually cut services for the mentally ill across the board.   How does this even remotely make sense?

What this means is that in states that accepted Medicaid expansions, they are only fixing services for mental health because they have to do that if they take the money.    In states that did not accept the Medicaid expansions at all, they are still cutting services.   So, in the United States, we will only help people who suffer from mental illness if the government makes us.    Nice.  And, people have to die before changes are made.  It takes tragedy.   Senseless murder.  

If you read that article, some of the things they are doing in states that did accept the Medicaid expansions are great.   For this, we can all thank SAMHSA.    Pamela Hyde is doing a fabulous job of heading SAMHSA.   Even in my state, where they did not even think about taking the money that would help us, they are going to train people throughout the state on Mental Health First Aid.    Mental Health First Aid is mentioned in the article.    It is a program that teaches a community about mental illness, so that they have facts and not misinformation.   It takes the unknown out of mental illness so that everyone can stop treating us like Boo Radley.   Thank you SAMHSA.

Near the bottom of this article, they get to the gun control issue.   And a helping hand full of Shame, Blame and Scorn.  What do I mean by this?  They still want us to feel shame for existing.   They still want us to accept the label of psycho killers.   They still want to pretend that the ONLY people who kill others are mentally ill.

 

If they can Shame us, they don't have to help us, unless they are forced to help us.

If they can Shame us, we will keep quiet.   We will not speak if our civil rights are violated.

 

 

My favorite part of the whole article is Florida.    Yes, Florida.   Apparently Florida just passed a law that if you VOLUNTARILY go in for mental health services, you surrender your gun rights.

 

 

Yes, you heard right.   

You can murder people in the streets because of their race in Florida.

But you can't have a gun if you go in for services for depression.

Wow.

 

Now, I don't own a gun.   Nor do I want to own a gun.   I am not a big gun fan.   But, I do not think it is right to strip an entire population of their rights.    Not all people with mental illness kill.   Florida's gun law does two things.    Number one, it spreads prejudice and stigma.  But hey, maybe that's how they roll in Florida.    Number two, they insure that NO ONE WILL GO IN FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN FLORIDA.   So good luck with that one, Florida.  

 

Someday, it is my hope that we can receive great services for mental health, because that is what society should offer its citizens.   Someday, it is my hope that the helping hand isn't full of Shame, Blame and Scorn. Someday, it is my hope that we wake up to the reality of mental illness.  Mental illness is an illness like any other.   People can and do, recover.   But we need services.   Good Services.   Without stigma.    

 Mental illness is not our fault.    Mental illness is not a crime.  Wake up, people.

 

 

And now for a message from our life coach cats:

 

 

Don't buy into the Stigma.  Believe in yourself.

 

Become an Advocate. 

Take mental illness out of the shadows.

You can advocate in many ways.   Social Media.   Blogs.   Face to Face.    It is harder to discriminate when you know the person behind the illness.    So let's make it harder for them to stigmatize us.  Educate and Inform.    Let people know.    We can make a difference.   Now is the time.