I’m a big fan of the Apple TV show Shrinking, a witty drama about a counseling practice and the lives and entangled relationships of the therapists, their patients, family members and friends. Each week, viewers like me are invited to witness the therapists at work, as well as the antics that happen behind the scenes in their own messy and complicated lives.
Most of my interactions with mental health care professionals were related to individual, family, and marriage counseling. Most people are familiar with this type of care, even if they haven’t had firsthand experience. Unlike the television drama when problems are solved in under forty minutes, real mental health challenges are not so neat and tidy.
Two months ago, Raul de la Cruz, 42, was shot 6 times in the abdomen after his father called the police because his son was having a mental health emergency. After struggling for several days in critical condition, he died. On May 24, 2026, 21-year-old Nasir Best, who had a history of mental-health related issues, was shot by U.S. Secret Service agents near the White House in Washington, DC. It was not until I had a mental health emergency in my own family, that I learned firsthand how difficult it can be to manage one’s mental healthcare.
Recently, my son was at work and a stranger called 911, alleging that he was acting erratically. As relayed by the caller, he was walking in circles in the parking lot at his place of employment, looking at himself in the car windows, and engaged in deep conversation with an entity that was invisible to everyone but him. He was not yet in any danger, nor did he pose any threat to anyone else. However, his manic self-talk and repetitive pacing was perceived as disorderly by the anonymous 911-caller. This call reminds me of the many cases over the past few years when 911 calls have turned deadly.
When officers from the Stratford Police Department arrived to help handle the situation with my son, they did everything right. Before they acted, they called me and waited for me to get my son and take him to the hospital. The officers were kind and compassionate and helped make a very stressful situation more manageable.
We didn’t have many resources at our disposal, and we were compelled to figure out things for ourselves very quickly. As his parent and advocate, I had never felt more powerless or unseen as I did when the doctors talked down to me, as if I had no valid opinions or perspectives about my own son. Mental health emergencies, much like the one my son and I experienced, are not isolated.
In fact, they are so prevalent that the entire month of May has been designated Mental Health Awareness Month. It was first established in 1949 by the Connecticut non-profit organization Mental Health Connecticut, which quickly grew into the national organization called Mental Health America (MHA). Every year in May, individuals, groups, and communities across the country renew their focus collectively on the ways that mental health impacts every facet of society.
Last month, I visited Here for You Clothing (HFY) to raise my awareness during Mental Health Awareness Month about what organizations right here in Connecticut are doing to shed light on an issue near and dear to me. HFY is a clothing brand, inspired by founder Ellie Haney’s own mental health journey. It offers unique, positive and stylish apparel with messages to combat the stigma associated with mental health diagnoses. The apparel line provides safe spaces to uplift communities and normalize conversations about mental health. This fashionable clothing line is to spark connection and remind people they are not alone. A portion of the brand’s proceeds is donated to the American Foundation for Suicide (AFSP).
One organization, Out of the Darkness Walks, works to educate the public about the mental health crises through a series of campus and community walks that we are experiencing at local, state, national, and global levels. Based on data from the CDC, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US. In 2024, 48,824 Americans died by suicide. And there were 2.2 million suicide attempts, a 1.5 increase from 2023. The numbers are sobering. Suicide is another aspect of mental illness that is often stigmatized, and its prevalence in our families and communities is often underreported. For instance, in one year, a WHO study determined that global suicide under-reporting ranges between 6.6% and 52% annually. The study also found that once disparities in reporting are accounted for, the number of deaths by suicide each year worldwide are more likely to be approximately 1 million rather than 727,000.[1]
For over 40 years, in collaboration with their nine local affiliates, NAMI CT (National Alliance on Mental Illness) has worked to change public attitudes about mental illness and offer support, education, and advocacy programs at the state and local levels, including in their partnership with HFY. They manage community-based support groups that provide information and resources when needed. Their affiliates speak publicly to educate others about mental health conditions and host educational programs, free of cost, to youth and young adults, parents, individuals, and families affected by mental illness. They advocate for effective and timely services from local service providers and offer hope to those experiencing the impact of mental illness. The Greater Bridgeport NAMI office serves the towns of Bridgeport, Stratford, Trumbull, and Shelton Connecticut.
NAMI provides educational support groups, mental health education, suicide prevention, awareness trainings, and facilitate presentations on subjects from engaging with law enforcement to finding stable employment, and so much more. NAMI also recognizes that mental health and physical health are interrelated. People affected by mental illness have higher rates of other serious health conditions. For example, people with serious mental health conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder have a substantially shorter life expectancy than the general population. NAMI’s Hearts and Minds program reports that “people with depression have a 40% higher risk of developing cardiovascular and metabolic diseases than the general population” and “rates of obesity for people with serious mental illness are nearly double the rates in the general population. In other words, mental health is physical health. They are not separate health conditions”, and recovery must include all aspects of health that account for the whole person, not just a medical diagnosis or condition.
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12378953/#s5.
