As some of you know, January 3 is the roughest day of the year for me and my family. Five years ago today, our beloved 34-year-old son Matthew died accidentally of carbon monoxide poisoning after a ten-year struggle with serious mental illness, including anosognosia.
That is an awkward term for the part of a brain disease that keeps one from having any insight into their disease. That means resistance to any treatment, combined with powerlessness of loved ones or professionals to do anything about it except watch your loved one deteriorate.
Matthew was a brilliant young man, a national champion high school debater who went on to Princeton and some success in Hollywood before a psychotic break at the age of 24. It is young people in their late teens and early 20s who are most vulnerable.
Like so many other great people, including @peteearley @RonPowersauthor @lesliecarpent15, I became an activist about our utterly broken system of mental health care and response after living with it and experiencing it in the front lines. My family created its foundation
In memory of Matthew, mornstein.org, to try and do whatever we could to keep others who suffer, and their family members, from having to go through the hell that Matthew did and then we did alongside him. Changing this insane system will take hard long & sustained work.
We are in it for the long-haul. We are working with other heroes, like @DrXavierAmador and Judge Steve Leifman (see here the trailer for the film we are doing on his great program of criminal justice reform) dropbox.com/s/2vzqmfph3zkq…
The documentary will be on public television later this spring, and we will go around the country trying to encourage best practices when it comes to criminal justice and serious mental illness. Believe it or not, it is possible to save lives and save money at the same time!
Today, however, is simply a day for grieving and mourning.
