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We have created booklets now available on amazon!  Visit our author page on amazon to see the booklets available for purchase!  https://www.amazon.com/author/marabriere

Don’t forget to leave comments!  We would love to hear your thoughts.

We have also participated in a new Bedford TV Cable Show (can be found on YouTube) called, “Neighbors to Know.”  It is a marvelous program which is anchored by the very talented Jennifer Puhle.  “Many people define themselves by the awards they’ve won. We invite you to learn the amazing things your neighbors are up to, no trophy required.”  Jennifer finds guests who “do good” with vision, passion, and ability. She has a Facebook page which invites more “real time” connection: (https://www.facebook.com/NeighborstoknowMA/).

Our interview can also be found on our blog:  https://growastrongfamily.org/a-neighbor-to-know/

PBS FRONTLINE steamed a documentary called, “Right to Fail.”  It can be found here: Right to Fail is online now at pbs.org/frontline. As is said on the website, “Thousands of New Yorkers with severe mental illnesses won the chance to live independently in supported housing, following a 2014 federal court order. FRONTLINE and ProPublica investigate what’s happened to people moved from adult homes into apartments and find more than two dozen cases in which the system failed, sometimes with deadly consequences.”

WE all know that the mental health system is very broken.  The services delivered are few and far between, and families are left adrift, trying to get services and benefits, to keep their loved ones alive, off the streets, and with the “right to thrive.”  The psychiatric “colonies,” as they were once called, where tens of thousands of individuals with serious mental illnesses were housed, came to a stop in the late 1970’s.  Individuals were then placed in rooming houses, cheap hotels, and the street.  The community was not yet ready or prepared to meet the needs of this wave of sick people.  In the late 1970’s, the colonies became shelters for the homeless mentally ill, as they were called, and many of the previous residents returned.  Unfortunately, the community response that was expected never materialized.  Today, the prisons have become the institution of choice.  We have to do better.  Watch this documentary and take from it what you can to create a “right to thrive,” instead of the “right to fail.”