Call for Help: Mental Illness Is Not A Crime

In 2019, Taun Hall’s 18 year-old son, Miles, was in the midst of a mental health crisis in their affluent, suburban community of Walnut Creek, California. The police responded, and within 30 seconds, Miles was shot and killed. What would have happened if Taun called 988 instead of 911? Would Miles still be alive? With insight from Taun Hall, Tom Insel, Dr. Altha Stewart, and Asantewaa Boykin, Stephanie explores how we got stuck with such a fractured system in the first place, the human toll, particularly in communities of color, and how communities are fighting to build better solutions for all. Zak Williams, our Special Service Correspondent, joins with specific actions we can take in the fight. 

 

SHOW NOTES

Navigating Crisis
Check out the guide from NAMI to learn how to navigate a crisis and the JED Foundation on how to talk to your friends who might be struggling.

https://www.nami.org/Your-Journey/Living-with-a-Mental-Health-Condition/What-to-Do-In-a-Crisis

https://jedfoundation.org/mental-health-resource-center/

Mental Health x Criminal Justice
Explore the intersection between mental health and criminal justice.

https://thejusttrust.org/

https://campaignzero.org/#vision

Support Our Guests
Learn more about Taun Hall’s work getting 988 policy passed in her community, and read about what Asantewaa Boykin is doing to make mental health crisis response more accessible. 

https://www.themileshallfoundation.org/

https://www.antipoliceterrorproject.org/mh-first-oakland

CREDITS

Call For Help is a Lemonada Media original presented by Sozosei Foundation. Hosting and story editing were done by me, Stephanie Wittels Wachs. Our producers are Alie Kilts and Alexa Lim. Tess Novotny is our associate producer. Natasha Jacobs is our engineer and sound designer. Music is by Xander Singh with additional music by Natasha Jacobs. Naomi Barr is our fact checker. Executive producers are Zak Williams, Jessica Cordova Kramer and me. We are so grateful to our show sponsors The Jed Foundation, National Alliance on Mental Illness and The Just Trust. And a special thanks to Chrystal Genesis and Jackie Danziger for additional support. 

You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @wittelsstephanie, and stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @lemonadamedia. You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.

For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series, you can visit lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. And finally, to follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/callforhelp shortly after the air date.

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