(Oct. 17, 2016) For the McSwane family of Smith County, Texas, changing mental health outcomes is imperative. They lost their beloved son Patrick to suicide in 2012. In 2014, putting grief into action, they formed the Smith County Behavioral Health Leadership Team and the Peace of Mind conference.
Peace of Mind brings together families, professionals and clergy to open the dialogue on treatment avenues in the mental health field. For the McSwanes, this is an important conversation. What they hope to accomplish is better care through better access to services for families whose loved ones struggle with severe mental illness.
Award-Winning Movement
In its first year, the conference drew 800 families, psychologists, clergy and advocates. In its second year, attendance numbers grew exponentially.
And now, the Tyler Chamber of Commerce awarded the McSwanes the T.B. Butler Award for outstanding citizens of the year. Doug and "Mo" Mary McSwane, and children Marcie and Ryan, were on hand at the Harvey Convention Center recently to receive the award.(Doug and Mary McSwane Named TB Butler Recipients as Tyler’s Most Outstanding Citizens, Tyler Morning Telegraph, Oct 5)
Doug noted in his acceptance speech, “In the aftermath of the first Peace of Mind Conference, it became a movement for all the stakeholders in the mental health field to come together in a collaborative effort to see what we could do to improve the delivery of the behavioral health services.”
Heartbreak Turned to Mission
The McSwanes’ son Patrick, so precious to them, refused help for his schizophrenia. The family exhausted every avenue, even traveling out of state to seek care. "We offered to send him to the best places the country had to offer. We even went to Baltimore to try and get him help, but if he doesn't want it, there's nothing you can do about that," McSwane said. (East Texas Family Leads Charge in Mental Health Awareness, KETK, Oct 11)
Statistics for the treating people with severe mental illness in Texas are bleak: there are a mere 8.5 psychiatric beds for every 100,000 adults. In a population of over 20 million adults, approximately 221,000 Individuals live with schizophrenia. Another 442,000 live with severe bipolar disorder. Because of the lack of beds, an estimated 35,711 languish in jails and prisons without receiving treatment.
As Doug McSwane relates, “The largest psychiatric facility in Smith County is the jail.” This regionhas a 34% higher rate of suicide over other areas of Texas. Due to a lack of inpatient beds, families routinely travel outside the county and state to seek care for their loved ones in crisis.
"It doesn't make any difference if you're rich, poor, what your gender is, what your race is, mental illness hits us all," McSwane said. According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, Texas ranks 41st in terms of state ranking of psychiatric beds per capita. The McSwanes are hoping to change that.
Give Them A Bed Instead
Marcie McSwane told the Treatment Advocacy Center:
Getting a diagnosis wasn’t our biggest problem — it was finding and sustaining treatment for Patrick.Texas is the only large state that doesn’t have an organized infrastructure for coordinating resources to manage behavioral health services.Our experience proves that treatment — and access to those desperately needed inpatient beds — is vital not only to living a normal, healthy life, but to staying alive.
Learn more about the McSwane family and alternatives to the bed crisis, visit abedinstead.org. And take the pledge!