I spent part of last week at the National Alliance on Mental Illness Conference in Chicago. It was a phenomenal three days where I learned a great deal, met some amazing people, and enjoyed playing tourist in my hometown.  On the opening day after the keynote speech, I was having dinner with several BringChange2Mind folks including Jessie Close and her son, Calen Pick.  Jessie and Calen had given moving and thought-provoking speeches earlier in the day and we were lounging at a local pizza joint, recapping their talk, and discussing our families and the convention. I don’t remember exactly why, but the talk turned to meds and side effects and I mentioned that Tim was on 600 mg of Clozaril a day.  Jessie’s eyes about popped out of her head. She said her son – diagnosed at 15 and now a man of nearly 30 - had never been on a dose above 375.

In 1977, a Northern California mother named Eve decided she’d had enough.  Eve had raised a child diagnosed schizophrenic and had endured the prevailing thinking by the medical community and society at-large at the time; that her son’s condition was her fault.  That something in how she raised him caused his psychotic break with reality during his teens.  Trying to get appointments with the local mental health facility administrators was frustrating, and the results of meetings she could get just made her angry.   So on October 22^nd, Eve and a