(Sept. 10, 2015) Amanda Baker, 26, took her own life last month, just over a year after advocating for expanded mental health treatment in Ohio (“Advocate takes own life a year after testifying for expanded mental health treatment,” Columbus Dispatch, Sept. 4).
Baker struggled with both physical and mental health issues — anxiety attacks, severe depression, and manic episodes.
But Baker’s mother says she had trouble getting treatment for her daughter despite her obvious need, due to the limited number of psychiatric beds available in Ohio and because Baker was sometimes too sick to realize she needed help.
After one brief hospitalization, Baker told her mother, “This is not right what they do to people. We’re going to make changes and get something done.”
Shortly after, Baker testified in support of Senate Bill 43 — a law allowing judges to order outpatient treatment for people with mental illness.
“My mom and I have a great relationship,” Baker said in her testimony. “But when you’re manic, you’re impulsive, you have rage, and your actions are beyond your control. My mom was unable to get me treatment despite her best efforts. If I ever find myself in that situation again, I want my loved ones to be able to get me treatment whether I think I need it or not.”
In June 2014, Baker attended a bill-signing ceremony in Ohio Governor John Kasich’s office. A photo from the event shows Kasich with his arm around Baker’s shoulder in the center of a group of lawmakers and advocates.
“It’s just such a tragedy,” Kasich said, upon hearing news of Baker’s death. “A loss of a life and these problems — depression and severe mental illness — they are just so beyond tragic, not just for the people who are affected but for the whole family.”
State Senator Dave Burke, the sponsor of the bill Baker had testified in support of, was also emotional at news of her death.
“Her passing has meaning to me having gone through that process,” Burke said. “Someone died because the system is broken. We would never turn our back on a cardiac patient because their problem was complicated or hard to understand.”
Burke said he will push the Kasich administration, the mental health system and service providers to integrate mental and physical care.
In the midst of National Suicide Prevention Week, we remember Baker and all lives lost to suicide and other consequences of untreated mental illness.
Read the Treatment Advocacy Center backgrounder on serious mental illness and suicide to learn more.
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