Presidential Town Hall Debate: Listen For Answers To Mental Health Questions
October 7, 2008 by Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Last week, I received an email from everyminute.org reminding me to send a question to Tom Brokaw for consideration in the presidential Town Hall debate that’s taking place tonight.
Unfortunately, time got away from me and not only did I forget to send a question; I also forgot to pass the information along to y’all.
The good news is that even though the deadline to send questions has passed (it was October 2), we can all still watch the debate tonight on just about every network (hmm…I knew there had to be a reason FOX wasn’t giving me a new episode of Fringe) and listen for answers to others’ mental health questions.
For example, Jace Freeman of everyminute.org sent this important question:
In order to achieve recovery and cure for people with mental illnesses, is it imperative to increase funding for research? Do you believe the expansion of publicly funded research is an important mechanism for revolutionizing the mental health system?
Here’s to hoping it gets answered!
Image: morgueFile
Alicia,
I too was listening to the presidential debate for any mention of mental health and, once again, I heard nothing. The $700 billion bailout has a way of doing that! Regardless, mental health issues still need to be front and center more often. Perhaps the millions of us who are personally affected need to speak up more and louder. Our daughter had bipolar disorder and died by suicide at age 26. My wife, son, and I formed the Karla Smith Foundation (http://KarlaSmithFoundation.org) to provide hope for a balanced life to family and friends of anyone with a mental illness or who lost a loved one to suicide. The site includes nine strategies to cope with the mental illness of a loved one and other helpful resources.
Tom Smith
Author of “A Balanced Life” and Co-Founder of the Karla Smith Foundation
http://karlasmithfoundation.org/
@ Tom – I am so sorry for your loss. Please know that I’ve received your email and will reply shortly.