Mental health care and criminal justice reform. (Mental Health Series, Part 1)

In his early twenties, Mindy Greiling’s son, Jim, was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. At the time, and for more than a decade after, Greiling was a Minnesota state legislator who struggled, along with her husband, to navigate and improve the state’s inadequate mental health system. Her book FIX WHAT YOU CAN is an illuminating and frank account of caring for a person with a mental illness, told by a parent and advocate. Greiling is joined here today by Minnesota Public Radio’s mental health reporter Alisa Roth, author of INSANE: AMERICA’S CRIMINAL TREATMENT OF MENTAL ILLNESS. This edited conversation was recorded in August 2020. For more information, please visit z.umn.edu/fixwhatyoucan.