Our July Book Club Pick – Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness
[vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent=”80″ align_horizontal=”align_center” overlay_alpha=”50″ gutter_size=”3″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]With the abundance of incredible books on the topic of mental illness and mental health, we’ve launched our #BraveBookClub to celebrate some of our favorite reads with our This Is My Brave family.
“Reading was one way I found stories from individuals dealing with the exact same thing I was facing and reading their stories helped me to better understand my condition,” Jennifer Marshall shared. “Memoirs written by individuals living with bipolar disorder, like Kay Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind, taught me that it was possible to lead a fulfilling life despite this life-long diagnosis.”
Each month, This Is My Brave will select a book as the monthly pick, and it will be announced in our e-newsletter at the start of the month. If you’re not already subscribed, now is a great time to sign up to stay in the loop on what we’re reading![/vc_column_text][vc_button button_color=”accent” border_width=”0″ link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Feepurl.com%2Fc6VPir||target:%20_blank|”]Join our e-newsletter![/vc_button][vc_column_text]For July, we’ve been reading Pete Earley’s book, Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
Former Washington Post reporter Pete Earley had written extensively about the criminal justice system. But it was only when his own son- in the throes of a manic episode-broke into a neighbor’s house that he learned what happens to mentally ill people who break a law.
This is the Earley family’s compelling story, a troubling look at bureaucratic apathy and the countless thousands who suffer confinement instead of care, brutal conditions instead of treatment, in the “revolving doors” between hospital and jail. With mass deinstitutionalization, large numbers of state mental patients are homeless or in jail-an experience little better than the horrors of a century ago. Earley takes us directly into that experience-and into that of a father and award-winning journalist trying to fight for a better way.
This story has a special place in our hearts because Pete’s son Kevin is the subject of the book. At the time when Pete was writing it, he used Kevin’s middle name because Kevin wasn’t sure he wanted to be completely open with his story. Seven years after the book was published, Kevin took his story to the stage in This Is My Brave’s debut show in Arlington, Virginia on May 18th, 2014. 🙂
Pete has been an outspoken and loyal fan of our work ever since and we cannot thank him enough for his incredible support. Crazy is an important read and we hope everyone has a chance to pick up a copy.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
