Minds on the Edge: Facing Mental Illness is a multi-platform media project that explores severe mental illness in America. The centerpiece of the project is a television program that premiered on PBS stations in October 2009. This video component is part of a national initiative that includes an extensive web site and an ambitious strategy to engage citizens, professionals in many fields, and policy makers at all levels of government. The goal is to advance consensus about how to improve the kinds of support and treatment available for people with mental illness.
Susan Rose, from North Adams, Massachusetts, alerted us to this excellent PBS forum. She writes: "As a person who has struggled with a mental illness for decades, I found this 2009 video compelling. The Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer and Nobel Prize winning neuroscientist Eric R Kandel were just two of the speakers. I wish I could share this with the people closing Greylock Pavilion, our inpatient mental health unit in North Adams, Massachusetts. Everyone needs to listen to the discussion on this video. The situation is worsening because nationally many psychiatric units are closing their doors for financial reasons. The consequences of these closings will be devastating to mental health patients, their families, and the communities they served. The pain of mental illness affects everyone. The cost saved by shutting down mental health units will be offset by an increased rate of incarceration, as patients are forced into jails because there is no other place for them to go."