Rhode Island’s “underfunded and fragmented” mental health system fails thousands of its residents, reports the Providence Journal, including one respected art teacher, Katie, whose life unraveled after an anxiety and bipolar disorder diagnosis.
From the story: “During the next four and a half years, Katie would return to teaching, have to quit, find another job to make ends meet, have to quit that job, lose her house, be repeatedly hospitalized and declared medically disabled. She would be treated compassionately by some police officers and neglectfully by others. She would experience the frustrations of Rhode Island's deficient and fragmented mental-health system, which at critical points failed her. She would be thwarted by insurance companies and by state and federal bureaucracies. And with the unwavering support of her mother and her daughter, she would show great resilience in the face of a debilitating disease. She would, in her way, triumph… In its essential aspects, it is the story of thousands of Rhode Islanders from all walks of life — and the story of millions of other people across America.”
Read the full story by The Providence Journal.