Mark Ghaly California's Secretary of Health and Human Services. "Over time we are really going to give Californians a new tool to support our neighbors who are both experiencing severe behavioral health conditions.and their connection to issues of housing instability, homelessness and the inability to meet basic needs," says Dr. But without some way to force him to do something, he won't do it," he says. And if you can force treatment on him there's a chance he could possibly crawl out of it. "Kinda look at it like he's in that dark hole right now. As Michael's step-dad, Lorrin Burdick, puts it, unless they can apply some pressure on him, he's very likely to stay on the streets mentally ill, drug-addled and lost. An arrest for arson resulted in no mental health treatment because her son has never been formally diagnosed and police had no record of mental health issues.
"We're just kind of waiting for him to get arrested – again - for something" she says, that might push him into care. I'm very powerful," she says with a pained smile. His psychosis at the time is that I caused hurricane Katrina. "In one of his psychotic stages hit me in the face and required 14 stitches. One incident resulted in a restraining order after an attack sent her to the emergency room. A few times over the years he's gotten violent. He often gets agitated, she says, and the conversation goes nowhere. Several days a week, however, she drops off food and sometimes clothes for him at a store near her home that's run by a friend.īut she rarely stays to talk with her son. He wanders the city during the day and sleeps outside, she's not sure where. "In fact, he thinks that he owns IKEA, and that I have a trust fund with Bill Clinton and that should be giving him monthly checks, and that's why he refuses to get care because he doesn't think that anything's wrong with him." He doesn't want any help, she says, because Michael refuses to think of himself as ill at all. But for years now, Burdick says, Michael has been wracked by delusions and paranoia and frequently self-medicates with narcotics, mostly methamphetamine. But the fact that so many go without a formal diagnosis, experts say the true percentage is likely far higher.ĭiana Burdick's son used to play guitar in a band, loved to draw pen and ink landscapes and worked for a time as an electrician's apprentice, his mom says. Some cities including Los Angeles estimate that 10% to 17% of individuals who are unsheltered have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness. The nationwide problem is particularly acute in California, which accounts for nearly one third of all people in the United States experiencing homelessness. Some of these people end up cycling in and out of police holds, jails, emergency rooms and homeless shelters and encampments.
MENTAL MUDIC HOW TO
"Aww, see, anybody looking at him would say, he's not right, he doesn't feel good," Elizabeth Hopper says, shaking her head in between lunch bites.Įight California counties are going first in a planned statewide, controversial experiment to try to fix a seemingly intractable problem every parent around the table is grappling with: How to get treatment and support for loved ones with serious mental health challenges, mostly schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. "That's pretty much what he looks like now," says Diana Burdick as she shows the others a phone shot of her son, Michael, 49, who has lived on the streets for a nearly a decade. The gatherings give them the chance to share stories, strategies and challenges of having a child with a serious and untreated mental disorder. This ordinary lunch with friends is also a vital one: Every parent here has an adult child with a severe mental illness a son or daughter who's also struggled with homelessness, substance abuse and arrests.
Sunday is family dinner day now," says Elizabeth Kaino Hopper as she and husband, Marvin, show a recent picture of their 33-year-old daughter, Christine. They're hosting an informal but semi-regular support group at their home in suburban Rancho Cordova east of Sacramento. On a recent afternoon Diana and Lorrin Burdick share pictures and swap stories with three other parents over a lunch of chicken curry sandwiches and fruit salad. In Rancho Cordova, Calif., Diana and Lorrin Burdick host an informal support group lunch at their house for parents of children struggling with severe mental health problems, including schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.
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