In this conversation host Jesse Mangan speaks with independent journalist Leah Harris and Committable producer Jim McQuaid about statistics that have become commonly misrepresented to justify the expansion of carceral policies. Specifically they focus on the claim that 57%-98% of people with schizophrenia experience anosognosia. Throughout the course of this conversation they break down where the claim comes from, why this sort of misrepresentation can be dangerous, and the importance of acknowledging complexity. And since this conversation was recorded on July 14th Leah also provides a brief overview of the concept of Mad Pride and how that movement became connected to Bastille Day.

Mad Pride article: https://asylummagazine.org/2023/09/mad-pride-spinning-hope-from-fear-by-tamara-hart/

Committable Collective: https://committablecollective.substack.com/p/anosognosia-57-98-misrepresentation?r=35bwpi&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

In this episode Committable host Jesse Mangan speaks with Winona Harper, Program Coordinator for Keya House, a peer respite run by The Mental Health Association of Nebraska. Keya House was designed as an alternative resource for people experiencing distress and strives to offer a place of solace, connection and healing for people in the community.

MHA Nebraska: https://mha-ne.org/welcome.html

Keya House: https://mha-ne.org/programs-services/keya.html

In this episode Committable producers Jesse Mangan and Jim McQuaid speak with researcher Nev Jones about the most recent evaluation of Kendra’s Law. Kendra’s Law is the Assisted Outpatient Treatment law in New York and while AOT laws differ significantly from state to state this policy is distinctly important because of the way it is used in advocacy throughout the United States. In this conversation we look out how the evaluation was conducted and discuss in depth both the qualitative and quantitative findings. There is a lot of complexity in these sorts of court ordered mental health interventions but it needs to be emphasized that these are coercive legal mechanisms which involve invasive systems of surveillance and the implications of that need to be considered carefully. Navigating the potential benefits and potential harms of AOT requires transparent discussions about what the available research says, as well as the many things that remain unknown

Independent Evaluation: https://omh.ny.gov/omhweb/statistics/NYS-AOT-Final-Report.pdf

Nev Jones: https://www.socialwork.pitt.edu/people/nev-jones