Meet Melissa Geathers
#LetsFaceIt Sometimes what you see is really only part of what’s actually there. It’s a message that Melissa Geathers, mother to a 12-year-old son who lives with bipolar disease, wishes more people would realize before jumping to conclusions and then potentially hurtful and unhelpful actions. “We don’t wear mental illness on our faces. He’s a […]
Meet Amanda Brenner
#LetsFaceIt A recent graduate focusing on policy practice with a special interest in mental health policy, Brenner, 27, has lived experience and knows firsthand how internalized shame and self-stigma can get in the way of recovery and change. “Self stigma really got in the way of trying to help myself and get the care I […]
Hate is A Crime, Not A Mental Health Condition
According to the FBI as reported on by the NY Times, “About 64.9 percent of the 8,052 reported hate crime incidents [in 2020] were based on race, ethnicity or ancestry bias. The number of reported hate crimes against African Americans in 2020 was 2,871, up from 1,972 in 2019.” The mass shooting on Saturday, May […]
Meet Jim Carlon
#LetsFaceIt Stamford attorney Jim Carlon seemed to have it all—family, successful legal career in both private practice and as a lawyer and an officer in the United States Army Reserve. But then things started to go awry. He began having trouble sleeping, his eating was irregular, and he began suffering repeated panic attacks. He knew […]
Meet Doris Maldonado Mendez
#LetsFaceIt If there is such a thing as a full time advocate, Doris Maldonado Mendez is it. A foster mother who is also a bilingual health information specialist for families with special needs, she says she is on 10—and perhaps counting—statewide boards and task forces focusing on disability issues. She is co-chair of the Keep […]
Meet Ryan Lindsay
#LetsFaceIt Have You forgotten my name? O Lord, come to Your child. O Lord, forget me not. You said to lean on Your arm And I’m leaning You said to trust in Your love And I’m trusting You said to call on Your name And I’m calling I’m stepping out on Your word. You […]
Meet Jeff Bravin
#LetsFaceIt Imagine you’ve been in a car accident. You’re hurt and are understandably confused and dazed by what just happened in addition to being in pain and scared. Now imagine trying to navigate that horrible experience as a deaf person with emergency and medical professionals who don’t know American Sign Language. It’s a traumatic situation […]
CT Attorney General William Tong Joins Rhode Island Attorney General in Court Battle to Protect Landmark Ruling in Behavioral Health Parity
Mental Health Connecticut (MHC) applauds Connecticut Attorney General William Tong and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha for their action today in filing an amicus brief to reverse an overturned ruling in the 2019 landmark Wit v. United Behavioral Health (UBH) case. If not reversed, this decision by courts could set a dangerous precedent for […]
Meet Susan Buchsbaum
#LetsFaceIt Susan Buchsbaum started her role as a mental health advocate after something she saw while in the hospital herself. “It was early in my illness and I saw something that really bothered me,” she says. She wrote a letter to the commissioner [at the Department of Mental Health and Addiction] but she didn’t send […]
Meet Kelvin B. Young
#LetsFaceIt Kelvin B. Young wants people to know that they are more than the label some may use to describe them, that labels are only as stigmatizing as we allow them to be. A former convicted felon and having lived with substance use challenges, Young credits getting beyond labels as one of the strategies that […]
