Now that #wspd has passed, I would like for all of us to ask ourselves: how do we treat those suffering with mental illness, addiction, or contemplating suicide?

We encourage people to speak up and ask for help, yet we continue to implicitly shame, blame, and roll our eyes when it comes to the topic of mental health unless it affects us personally.

We design systems where people have to be in their worst possible state before they can access help, and when they tell us they’re thinking about it suicide we use coercive approaches to detain them and lock them in wards that dehumanize them.

I work in this same system and frankly it sucks. Those suffering deserve better. Yet advocating for change can be difficult when there are powers interested in preserving the status quo.

After many years of advocacy I have concluded that the key to transformational change is inclusive leadership. Leaders who believe in decentering themselves and codesigning systems of care where patients and caregivers are decision makers.

No more excuses. No more empty promises. It is past time for us to make the system work in the ways that it needs to. How can we do it together?