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 stubborn refusal to acknowledge the risk untreated psychosis can pose has effectively shifted what used to be a government responsibility onto the families of people with SMI – and there isn’t a back-up. Spoiler alert: it happens on the backs of desperate and unsupported loved ones left with few options and no good choices. For black and brown families, there are fewer services available and the stakes are even higher if they have to call 911. And the laws of your state might be making it even more dangerous. I’m talking today to Nieva about her experiences with her son in Georgia. We’ll also be talking again with Thurmond Gillis, a mental health counselor from New Jersey who specialized in first episode psychosis, for his clinical perspective on first episode psychosis.

"Make Them Hear You" is an original podcast from Treatment Advocacy Center - the oldest national non-profit dedicated to eliminating the barriers to treatment for severe mental illness. In this podcast series, Treatment Advocacy Center's Senior Legislative and Policy Counsel, Sabah Muhammad, is the host and leads listeners through courageous conversations which uplift the voices of some of our most vulnerable members of society: individuals of color with a diagnosis of severe mental illness.

Visit Treatment Advocacy Center's website to learn more: treatmentadvocacycenter.org

Direct media inquiries to [email protected]

"Make Them Hear You" is hosted by Sabah Muhammad.

Produced by Bill Retherford, Sabah Muhammad, and Shannon Zogran.

Written and edited by Sabah Muhammad, Shannon Zogran, Lisa Dailey, and Michael Gray.