I read this article on Thursday, and thought it was well-done, and then I forgot where I read it. I wanted to share this content so I searched for it this morning. I recommend the article. You can link above.
It starts with this narrative:
WASHINGTON, DC — “I used to see auras, but I thought they were signs from God.”
Walter is a 54-year-old DC resident with schizophrenia who has asked me to withhold his last name. When he became seriously symptomatic at the age of 19, he — like many Americans who suffer from a serious mental illness — didn’t even realize he was sick. “I
thought it was more of a spiritual nature,” he told me.
Now, after 35 years and a life-saving intervention by a local homeless mental health organization called Pathways to Housing DC, Walter is in recovery. He’s the father of a five-year-old girl, interviewing for jobs, and his son just graduated from college with a business degree. But the road to this moment involved traversing decades of poverty, 24 different doctors, dealings with state psychiatric institutions, and prolonged bouts of homelessness. His story highlights the myriad shortcomings in affordable housing and mental health care policies that often leave the homeless and mentally ill without much of a shot in life.
Commissioner Andor during the launch of the campaign “Ending of Homelessness” – (Photo credit: EU Social)
Related articles
- Chennai’s mentally ill have nowhere to go (thehindu.com)
- Robert David Jaffee: Congresswoman Napolitano Fights the Good Fight for the Mentally Ill (huffingtonpost.com)
- Mental Health Stigma – Does it Add Up? (whereistandblog.wordpress.com)
Hopeful 
I have a personal blog about the subject, come over and see for yourself.