The Domenici Public Policy Conference brings policy leaders together to discuss different issues that are important to New Mexico and the Nation. This year’s conference had a focus on mental health reform.
Today, We hear from Liza Long, a mother who’s whose essay “I am Adam Lanza’s Mother” went viral following the Newtown Shooting, about what it’s like raising a child with severe mental illness.
Liza Long says when she heard people blaming Adam Lanza’s mother after the Newtown shooting she felt compelled to share her family’s story.
“The day of the Newtown shooting,” Long said. “I came into work, and I had bruises and bite marks on my arms, I tried to keep my child from running into traffic. He was in an acute care psychiatric hospital that day, and I had just gotten off the phone with his case worker who said well we need to charge him with a crime, so that we can get him mental health services, and the absurdity of my child’s situation just overwhelmed me, something snapped.”
Long says like many families, her child’s journey in the mental health care system included the criminal justice system.
“He’s an awesome kid,” Long said. “So, this is my little kid I love deeply, and I’m being told that just because he has these very clear behavioral symptoms, I mean it was not him being a bad kid. It was his brain not being able to function in the environment and not getting the treatment he needed. And yes our only solution that people could offer me was have him charged with a crime. It’s ridiculous, and yet we see it playing out across not just the juvenile justice system, but the entire criminal justice system."
After writing the letter, a doctor diagnosed her son with bipolar disorder, and with proper treatment he is living a full life at 16.
“All it took was the right diagnosis and the right treatment,” Long said. “And now he lives in recovery. And I don’t want to say bipolar is a happy ending, it’s not. I’ve been so impressed with his bravery and really owning that diagnosis, and managing his health care in a really proactive way, but his moods are stable and it’s an amazing difference for him and for our entire family.”
Long says parents of children living with mental illness need to learn how to fight for their child.
“The first thing that people I think have to realize is that it’s not that you’re a bad mom or a bad dad,” Long said. “You’re not. You love your child. So, many families suffer in shame and silence through mental illness because of the stigma that surrounds it. But then the real challenge is access to care. It can be so hard to get the services that your child needs. So, I say you just have to become very passionate about helping your child succeed.”
