Why

This is what mental illness looks like:

In the summer of 1981, President Ronald Reagan signed The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act which essentially abolished The Mental Health System Act of 1980 that had been put into law by President Jimmy Carter. Not Reagan’s best moment or decision. There have been 6 sitting presidents and countless other politicians of influence since and none of them have done much to help or assist the mentally ill. The government is not going to rescue us or the mentally ill; it’s up to you and me.

Later that fall of ’81, thousands were released from mental health facilities around the country and left to fend for themselves either on the streets (homeless) with family, friends or relatives.

My sister Tonya, 20 years old - was one of them. Four years earlier Tonya had been diagnosed manic depressive/schizophrenic – today we refer to it as bipolar.

For 40 years until her untimely death in 2016, Tonya struggled and suffered with mental illness, attempted suicide multiple times, would refuse her meds and disappeared to the streets for hours, days and sometimes weeks. When Tonya resurfaced, it was at the hands of law enforcement or at the hospital from having been beaten, raped and left for dead in the streets.