Lynn has been my idol ever since I joined the movement (CA 1982) to improve care for the most seriously ill. She was older than me, and different than every other NAMI member. How? Lynn doesn't --as she would say, "take any shit". She makes these bald, impolitic, truthful statements about how horrific the mental illness treatment system. Everyone else was pulling their punches and ignoring the elephant in the room: treatment for the most seriously ill sucked and no one was doing anything about it. And she would reel in horror when others who called themselves 'advocates', tried to say how nice Commissioner so-and-so was. "He could be the nicest man in the world. Our job is to make him do his damn job and give the seriously ill better care!" she would say (usually followed by "sheesh").
I once wrote an article, "NAMI's Delusions: Counterproductive Beliefs Held by Mental Health Advocates" almost entirely based on what Lynn taught me.
Lynn has this ability to focus on the most important issues, even while all other advocates are focusing on feel-good ones. While they were trying to create pretty brochures, Lynn was trying to save psychiatric hospitals. While they were criticizing the lack of "people first" language, she was trying to stop the system from jailing people merely because they had mental illness.
Lynn taught me that being at the table isn't as important as making progress and that the two are often inversely related. In a note about her retirement, she wrote:
Never trust a bureaucrat. It's THEIR money (and power and prestige, it's just our loved one's lives. And we know which comes out on top. "Making nice" makes you feel good, but doesn't result in success. News reporters are our friends. Tell the truth, the REAL truth.... Maintain a sense of humor even in dark days--we all need to laugh. Persevere. Persevere some more....Lynn (and Mary): You're right. I'm gonna "persevere". I'm gonna start a new Facebook Group called, "Bring Lynn and Mary Out of Retirement".
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