Blog Archives

Chad Kelly & Mr. Universe

1/31/2019

Chad Kelly was released from the Broncos a day after he was found mumbling incoherently after breaking into the home of a stranger and arrested for "Trespass." He has a history of behavioral issues.

Mr. Universe

What Must We Do To Prove We Are Humans?
By Mr. Universe
They call me Mr. Universe. I have severe mental disabilities, and I have been homeless for over 20 years, and this is a true story.
I have no friends or support system or family and I'm homeless, I have been in and out of jail and prison for 20 years.
The sad part is when I get out of jail there's nowhere for me to go, and no one who cares what happens to me.
So what about the large percentage of us who don't want to be homeless and our only crime is being mentally ill? How do we supposed to live without effective and immediate assistance from the State -- the same people that want to keep us locked up simply because they do not understand us?
   What must we do to prove we are humans?
The System was designed to hurt us not to help us.
I am using the term "us" because my voice is for all the homeless and mentally ill people who try so hard to get off the street.
The last 2 times I was in jail I had drug charges. I asked the DA to give me treatment and he refused me both times.
  How do I suppose to live if I have a disability and cannot work, who do I go to for help?

Chad Kelly & Mr. Universe

Why is the Chad Kelly story so important to us?

Well we worked with Mr. Universe above, a Black Homeless Man in his 50's facing a factual situation very similar to Chad Kelly's -- only Mr. Universe is now doing 24 years in a Colorado Prison.

He had a lot of chances, right? No he didn't. AND that is not the right question anyway.

Also when people have executive functioning problems it doesn't really matter if that is because of mental illness, brain injury, substance use issues, developmental disability, other factors, a combination.

The person has those issues -- incarceration is going to make them worse -- and we need to treat those issues as best we can and protect the community.

The Global Mental Health Crisis

1/31/2019

IF WE BUILD OUT AN ADEQUATE MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM WITH HOUSING & PLACEMENTS TO SCALE -- THEY WILL COME & THAT'S THE ISSUE

WE'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF THIS DOWNWARD SPIRAL & THAT MEANS FUNDING RESEARCH & BRINGING RESEARCH TO CLINICIANS IN A TIMELY MANNER

So What's the Point? --- There are many millions of people in the US, Western Countries, & really around the world including less developed countries that constitute the "Global Mental Health Crisis" --- Is it really all Social Media?

We are pretty sure that if we address this -- People Are Going To Come. Now most people may not be @ STAGE 4 -- but there are Millions, maybe even a BILLION -- with "Mental Illness/Developmental Disability" that affects multiple domains of functionality.

We think this is a "GENERATIONAL ISSUE":

We think our immune systems have become much more "sensitive" over the last few generations given the move from the farm but also combining that with the move to processed food and a more sedentary lifestyle.
So a lot of this "Sensitivity" shows up in "Emotional Sensitivity" -- which people physically feel -- so if people trash us on Social Media -- we don't just feel upset -- or whatever -- it's the end of the world. Is Suicide an appropriate response? NO -- but it may "feel appropriate" given the level of disturbance in our Central Nervous Systems.
It also includes all those relatively new FOOD SENSITIVITIES & ALLERGIES.
Social Media is really problematic and it does ratch things up -- but we're not sure that our ancestors would be having the same problems with it that we are ---of course they would be out in the fields working.
In the US, we are probably two, three, four generations into epigenetic changes from moving off the TRADITIONAL FARM. [In some cases maybe more]
Additionally, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION [PROBABLY ANY KIND OF DISCRIMINATION]/UNCONSCIOUS BIAS affects people's physical/mental health -- we have to Include & Listen to people because we are not aware of our own UNCONSCIOUS BIASES -- and everybody has them.
Furthermore -- we have evolved into an UBER SENSITIVE PEOPLE--- that has A LOT OF CONSEQUENCES -- many unintended.

The Mental Health Crisis is so ubiquitous really all over the world BUT especially in Western Countries

Most of us around the world are pretty far beyond people with mental illness being possessed by demons although mental health advocates & providers are in some parts of the world still battling treatment by hyena or chaining.
In the West, we are not beyond: "People are just BAD/EVIL -- He/She Intended It" if we don't fully understand what's going on. -- we might put a sham scientific gloss on it like -- "anti-social personality disorder."
It would be so much easier & likely cheaper if our knowledge was less than it is --- it is clear we know a lot & that we don't know enough.
That has lot of moral implications and a lot of implications about who we put the burden on: is it going to be on often INDIGENT INDIVIDUALS or often the WEALTHIEST SOCIETIES IN THE WORLD that have the resources, but may NOT want to ADEQUATELY FUND:
- Research
- The Massive Task of Bringing Research to Clinicians in a Timely Manner
- Treatment
- Housing
- Supported Employment
- Custodial Care
- Custodial Care with Beefed Up Security Features
Of course, in the LONG TERM it is SO MUCH CHEAPER for the SOCIETY to adequately FUND the above rather than ask FUTURE GENERATIONS to pay.
That payment may include unnecessary TRAUMA & epigenetic changes [heritable changes in gene expression] to our progeny

What Is Epigenetics?

Suicide: The Urgent Need to Apply the Research

Poverty Linked to Epigenetic Changes & Mental Illness -- Nature (2016)

ADHD, Reciprocity, Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, & Differences in Intensity

"I'm Too Sensitive A Person"

UNDERSTAND-ING FEDERAL & STATE LEGAL IMPEDIMENTS TO rESOLVING CO'S MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

1/27/2019

SUFFICIENTLY FUNDING CARE Under CO's Civil Commitment Statutes

PEOPLE -- The PROBLEM isn't that CO's Care & Treatment for People with Mental Health Disorders Act hasn't been sufficiently wordsmithed to include people who may need treatment. Further, one only has to have "imminent danger" or "gravely disabled" [which is very broad] for a 72-hour hold. One can still petition the Court under "gravely disabled" or 'danger' for a "court-ordered" evaluation. Now if people want to include "danger" for 72-holds -- we don't object.

BUT THE REAL PROBLEM IS --

The CO Legislature limited the Care & Treatment ACT to "AVAILABLE APPROPRIATIONS" --- & SUFFICIENT APPROPRIATIONS ARE NOT AVAILABLE TO DEAL WITH CO'S MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

So we don't have enough bed space [which most people know] --
But we also don't have enough small mental health residential treatment facilities
We don't have enough Housing [we know that -- but we often don't think of that as a BIG part of CO's Mental Health Crisis -- IT IS]
We don't have enough Assertive Community Treatment -- basically 24/7 Wraparound Services -- the gold standard of Intensive Community Mental Health Treatment -- & a common element of US Dept of Justice Mental Health Americans with Disabilities Act/Olmstead settlement agreements -- provided under CO Medicaid as an "Alternative Service" & not to all Medicaid recipients where reasonably medically necessary.
We don't have any Flexible Assertive Assertive Community Treatment -- a less expensive form of ACT that is provided on an as needed basis, especially for "cycling" forms of mental illness --- where in general, people may be functioning pretty well but have periods of need for intense support. Originally developed in Scandinavia.
We don't have enough Intensive Case Management again provided as an "Alternative Service" & not to all CO Medicaid recipients where reasonably medically necessary.

THE FEDERAL "IMD EXCLUSIONARY RULE" OR THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS

[The IMD RULE prevents Medicaid funding of "Institutes of Mental Disease" except in limited circumstances]

In many cases, Prosecutors & Courts will not agree to an alternative to incarceration without significant address of safety concerns. The hard truth for the society & what most Correction officials already know -- INCARCERATION MAKES PEOPLE WORSE.

[IT IS TIME TO INSTITUTE EMERGENCY PROCEDURES TO DEAL WITH THE CURRENT MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS --- & LET'S NOT HAVE THE PERFECT BE THE ENEMY OF THE GOOD LEST WE HAVE THE CURRENT STATUS QUO: THE HORRIFIC]

Feds get rid of IMD Rule--- in exchange States are required to develop comprehensive, detailed Mental Health Continuums of Care that are brought to SCALE @ each TIER.

In search of a criminal justice policy we can handle & that is based on the truth

1/25/2019

We post this stuff a lot.

What we're hoping is going to happen is that probably some leaders within the Mental Health profession with other health professionals & with the assistance of the State are going to try to address these problems [theoretically with an inclusive stakeholder group] regarding:

Incomplete Knowledge [Mental Health, Brain Injury, Developmental Disability, Substance Use] & the Criminal Justice System

A lot of people in the Criminal Justice System have one or more of the issues mentioned above. Further, there are people in the Criminal Justice System who have all 4 issues -- a mental illness, brain injury, developmental disability, & Substance Use issues.

For much [not all] of Criminal Law, the issue really isn't an individual bad act -- it is really long term complicated cognitive issues that we may or may not partially understand.

The people with these "issues" must be a part of this ---- because they have a lot of CRITICAL INFORMATION only they know.

THIS IS PRETTY IDEALIZED BUT THIS IS WHAT WE ARE GOING FOR:

Ideally, providing for:

SAFETY, secure and therapeutic placements to meet the NEED, consider RURAL Areas, horticulture, farm animals, etc. & to address NIMBY [not in my backyard];
The Social Determinants of Health, including Housing & Supported Employment
Person-Centered, Strength Based Approach
Treatment to meet the NEED
Individualized Medicine with Shared Decision-making
Timely Integration of Research into Clinical Practice

"If Natural Consequences were gonna do it -- They would have already worked."

The Great Pat Tomlan, Ph.D: "If natural consequences were gonna do it, they would have already worked." Pat did psycho-educational assessments. We worked on a case together while I was working @ The Legal Center for People with Disabilities & Older People, now Disability Law Colorado. She taught me so much! She passed away a few years ago -- & she is greatly, greatly missed.

Dr. Thomas Insel, former Dir. of the Nat'l Institute of Mental Health --- We Don't Even Have a Parts List for the Brain -- We're in a AGE OF DISCOVERY (2014)

-------Dr. Aristotle Voineskos, Director of the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto

Neuroscience News
January 4, 2019

“But we needed to take an agnostic approach and let the data tell us what the brain-behavioural profiles of our study participants looked like.

It turned out that the relationship between brain function and social behaviour had nothing to do with conventional diagnostic categories in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).”

-------Dr. Aristotle Voineskos in the Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto

Neuroscience News
Brains of People With Schizophrenia Related Disorders Aren’t All the Same

https://neurosciencenews.com/?s=schizophrenia+brains+not+all+the+same

Science Up

New Science is amazing & it has huge moral implications NOW

Divergent Thinking & Creativity are High risk High reward strategies---The desperation that causes is pretty intense

1/22/2019

So what is really a CRITICAL element of "Divergent Thinking" & "Creativity" --- High Sensitivity To The Environment.
Is that a GOOD thing or a BAD thing?
Well, IT DEPENDS.
It can provide the raw information, data one needs to be "Creative" or engage in "Divergent Thinking" to solve problems -- but that "Sensitivity" has the very real potential to be disabling.
That "Sensitivity" MAY BE the very nice person who is extremely considerate of the feelings of others -- it may be that person PLUS/OR someone who easily takes offense, whose feelings are easily hurt:

the person may be "acting out"
withdrawing, or
just pretending that "it" doesn't hurt -- as much as "it" does.

On top of all this -- as if this weren't enough -- are COMPLICATED Biological Drivers that are only PARTIALLY UNDERSTOOD by the Researchers much less the Clinicians.
WE'RE GOING TO PILE ON:

This is the "Best of All Possible Worlds" -- "We Gotta Provide Hope" & "POSITIVITY" -- Mental Health Profession [the reality is we provide hope to others by being really honest, transparent & as open as possible about our own limitations -- including knowledge limitations -- so others can be really honest & transparent so there is the Foundation for TRUST & SHARED DECISION MAKING to solve "problems"].
A Criminal Justice System That Is So Overwhelmed with Its Heavy Dockets -- It Doesn't Have the Capacity to Ask the Tough Questions & Would Probably Say That's a Legislative Matter -- Substantive Due Process anyone?
IMPERFECT KNOWLEDGE
SOCIETAL DESPERATION

Is that a Recipe for Moral & Ethical Decision Making & REFORM?

IT COULD BE.

When I first saw this video while writing this blog --- I Cried. It's gonna be hard --- BUT try not to throw up -- you don't want to damage your computer.

We agree with many of Peterson's points on the "Curse of Creativity." We DON"T AGREE with the old argument that if "Everybody is Special, Nobody's Special."

That's a pretty fallacious argument and we understand how people can get trapped in it. Why is it a fallacious argument?:

there is no contradiction in a lot of people being "Creative" -- [HINT: All men are mortal, Socrates is a man, therefore Socrates is mortal.]
there is even no contradiction in everyone being "Special" if its in different respects.
You first really need to start with defining "Creativity" -- welcome to the Labyrinth & the Rabbit Hole -- Socrates didn't last very long after he started walking around asking people: "What Is Virtue?" Good Luck with "Creativity." That doesn't mean we shouldn't ask -- we should ask.
What we believe are Psychology Professor Peterson's "good points" have so many implications for the ECONOMY, EMPLOYMENT, & MENTAL HEALTH -- we'll be trying to flesh some of that out in the coming days. [Peterson is @ the University of Toronto]. In the MEANTIME ---

CANADA: RISE Asset Development -- Supports Entrepreneurs Overcoming Mental Health & Addiction Challenges

BIO-MOLECULES & THERAPEUTICS (2018)
Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology

Schisantherin B Improves the Pathological Manifestations of Mice

Caused by Behavior Desperation in Different Ages-Depression with Cognitive Impairment

if we dig deep, there may be more "harmony of interests" in the criminal Justice System than we realize

1/15/2019

Some of what goes on in the Criminal Justice System is a SEARCH FOR TRUTH and a determination of disputed factual matters.
A whole lot of what goes on in the Criminal Justice System is DESPERATE ATTEMPTS TO AVOID BRUTAL INCARCERATION.
If the State offered through Medicaid Funding [& a Federal Match] Humane alternatives that provided for SAFETY -- a lot of those CROWDED CRIMINAL DOCKETS WOULD GO WAY DOWN.
Further, it may SHOCK some people to know that some people who allegedly have had all those CHANCES -- actually do sometimes choose INCARCERATION over PROBATION -- BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT TO BE SET UP FOR FAILURE -- IT IS TOO STRESSFUL.
Those EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING SKILLS that the Court, the prosecutor, and maybe even the Defense Attorney take for granted --- that person may not possess in some standard configuration.
That could be because of a brain injury, mental illness, substance use issues, developmental disabilities, etc. --- or some combination.
FURTHER, even some people who have been convicted of horrible crimes DON'T WANT TO BE SET UP FOR FAILURE.
The desire to REALLY AUTHENTICALLY SUCCEED is actually pretty UNIVERSAL.
I've had CLIENTS who wanted a MORE RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT than what I was originally suggesting.
We're NOT suggesting that this is all going to be NIRVANA -- BUT THE DEEPER WE DIG -- THE MORE LIKELY WE ARE TO FIND A HARMONY OF INTERESTS.

Executive Functioning & "Prison Brain"

Mental Health's 3-legged stool is falling over

1/14/2019

IRONICALLY---
RESEARCHERS SOMETIMES REFER TO WHAT MENTAL HEALTH CLINICIANS DO AS A "RELIGION" -- WELL MEANING, BUT NOT WELL GROUNDED IN SCIENCE

WE ACTUALLY PROBABLY HAVE MORE "FAITH" @ THIS POINT IN RELIGION THAN WE DO IN THE MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSION

IT IS NOT THAT EVERYTHING THE MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSION BELIEVES IN IS WRONG --- BUT SOME PRETTY SIGNIFICANT PIECES ARE -- & THERE IS A PRETENSION TO KNOWLEDGE THEY JUST DON'T HAVE.

WELL, COULDN'T YOU SAY THAT ABOUT US, TOO? WELL PROBABLY, BUT OUR ARGUMENT ISN'T THAT WE KNOW IT ALL. IN SOME WAYS, IT IS A SOCRATIC ARGUMENT-- WE DON'T KNOW IT ALL BUT IT IS PRETTY CLEAR THE MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSION DOESN'T EITHER.

OBVIOUSLY, THIS IMPACTS THE GENERAL ISSUE OF "TREATMENT" BUT IT ABSOLUTELY GOES TO THE GROWING MAGNITUDE OF OUR "MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS" AND OUR RESULTING: "MENTAL HEALTH/CRIMINAL JUSTICE CRISIS."

IF THE MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSION IS BEING DESPERATELY ASKED BY THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM TO WEIGH IN ON MATTERS IN WHICH THE PROFESSION HAS AN EXTREMELY PARTIAL UNDERSTANDING @ BEST --- THAT MAY HAVE THE POTENTIAL & ABILITY TO HELP BUT IT NOT ONLY HAS THE POTENTIAL -- IT HAS THE REALITY OF DOING GREAT HARM -- THINK "ANTI-SOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER."

WE THINK THE MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSION IS PROBABLY ONE LEG OF A 3-LEGGED STOOL: IMMUNOLOGY, GASTROENTEROLOGY, & NEUROSCIENCE.

MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS REALLY DON'T HAVE ENOUGH KNOWLEDGE TO TESTIFY IN CRIMINAL COURTS. IS THAT REALLY PROBLEMATIC -- YES, IT IS.

IT MEANS WE MUST GET REALLY HONEST & REFORM OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM AND WHILE WE ARE @ IT OUR PROVISION OF "MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES."

Competence in Job
Concern for Others
Keep Commitments

One of the most important legs of TRUST is Concern for Others --- our Mental Health Profession has that -- probably more than most Medical Professions

Competence in the Job and Keeping Commitments are really related and really go to this lack of Scientific Grounding. AND really why the mental health profession and many advocates spend so much time on the "perfect wordsmithing" of the Civil Commitment Statutes.

Is this really the Mental Health Profession's fault? Maybe we can see with people we know care so much --- that we are all INTER-CONNECTED & nobody can do it by themselves.

It's fine for researchers or critics such as ourselves to refer to mental health clinical practice as a "RELlGION" or admonish clinicians to take an "AGNOSTIC" approach to the DSM 5.

But mental health professionals NEED A MASSIVE REFORM in how advances in knowledge are communicated to them and how to implement those in Clinical Practice. That implicates those researchers and ultimately our GOVERNMENTS to FUND that activity.

Employment, Treatment, Neuroplasticity & reality

1/2/2019

People with disabilities in the Criminal Justice System want to be employed.
• The public wants to see people with disabilities in the Criminal Justice System employed.
• That is a lot more complicated than most people realize even with a person with invisible disabilities who has a High IQ.

• “Disabilities” are really weaknesses or deficits it is thought the majority don’t share – and often the majority don’t share these weaknesses or deficits.
•
Many people with “Disabilities” do have STRENGTHS the majority doesn’t have. We really recognize this for people who experience blindness or deafness, but it can be true for other weaknesses of deficits, too.

• Further, some Mental Illnesses are closer to Developmental Disabilities that kick in @ Adolescence or Young Adulthood.

• Additionally, some mental illnesses are brought on in part by undiagnosed developmental disabilities and the stress and frustration when one’s own Compensatory Efforts & Skills are insufficient for the environment one is operating in. [Attorney Val Corzine has personal experience with this]

• So all of this is a LONG WAY of saying actually a lot of things BUT we are going to focus on:

*Neuroplasticity is A LOT MORE complicated than we think it is. --- Most people with developmental disabilities and mental illness have been naturally taking the advice of many brain researchers – to pay attention and practice.

Like people who may not have access to one or more senses – our brains have had to develop workarounds --- which may account for some of those STRENGTHS.

• We wouldn’t ask a person with BLINDNESS to just sit around and work on their blindness and when they have that fixed we will open up some employment opportunities for them.

• We shouldn’t be doing that for people with developmental disabilities [even HIGH IQ), brain injury, mental illness, etc.

• That health care system has to be Person-Centered & Strength Based if people are going get better.

• That Health Care System MUST spend 80% of its time on Strengths identification & development, & 20% of its time on workarounds for weaknesses.

• People and employers MUST have easy access to these workarounds or “accommodations.”

• One of the reasons why people with DISABILITIES NEED A STRENGTH BASED SYSTEM IS THAT THEY OFTEN HAVE STRENGTHS THE MAJORITY DOESN'T -- it is hard for the majority to understand -- BUT people NEED TO FOCUS ON THOSE STRENGTHS TO GET BETTER.

Those strengths are the keys to EMPLOYMENT, and the WORKAROUNDS can't be ignored but they are only 20% of the Solution.

Go With The Flow

Val's Confessions & a Cautionary Note on Neuroplasticity

I have a poor working memory and am a person with slow processing speed.

On the other hand, I "intuitively" understand SOME patterns, associations, and SYSTEMS.

I consider myself a systemic thinker mainly because I am. Now most people are too to some degree -- but it is likely due to my own deficits that my own abilities have been developed to a relatively high degree.

The deficits didn't go away.

Is that my fault because I didn't sufficiently pay attention or practice?

The implications of some of the talk around Neuroplasticity are pretty SCARY--as Maria Shriver says on this topic: "We have to be response-able."

My fear is that we don't replace the Free Well rationale for Punishment with PERFECT & IMMACULATE NEUROPLASTICITY.

If we want to provide TREATMENTS -- that's great. That's being response-able.

Let's not use NEUROPLASTICITY to do an end run so we can still make moral judgments about people and punish them.

Val's Blog

Chad Kelly & Mr. Universe

The Global Mental Health Crisis

IF WE BUILD OUT AN ADEQUATE MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM WITH HOUSING & PLACEMENTS TO SCALE -- THEY WILL COME & THAT'S THE ISSUE

WE'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF THIS DOWNWARD SPIRAL & THAT MEANS FUNDING RESEARCH & BRINGING RESEARCH TO CLINICIANS IN A TIMELY MANNER

UNDERSTAND-ING FEDERAL & STATE LEGAL IMPEDIMENTS TO rESOLVING CO'S MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

In search of a criminal justice policy we can handle & that is based on the truth

"If Natural Consequences were gonna do it -- They would have already worked."

Divergent Thinking & Creativity are High risk High reward strategies---The desperation that causes is pretty intense

if we dig deep, there may be more "harmony of interests" in the criminal Justice System than we realize

Mental Health's 3-legged stool is falling over

Employment, Treatment, Neuroplasticity & reality

Author

Archives

Categories

Val's Blog

​IF WE BUILD OUT AN ADEQUATE MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM WITH HOUSING & PLACEMENTS TO SCALE -- THEY WILL COME & THAT'S THE ISSUE ​WE'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF THIS DOWNWARD SPIRAL & THAT MEANS FUNDING RESEARCH & BRINGING RESEARCH TO CLINICIANS IN A TIMELY MANNER

"If Natural Consequences were gonna do it -- They would have already worked."

Author

Archives

Categories

IF WE BUILD OUT AN ADEQUATE MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM WITH HOUSING & PLACEMENTS TO SCALE -- THEY WILL COME & THAT'S THE ISSUE

WE'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF THIS DOWNWARD SPIRAL & THAT MEANS FUNDING RESEARCH & BRINGING RESEARCH TO CLINICIANS IN A TIMELY MANNER