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Part 2 follows Mackenzie Robbins through abuse, psychosis, hospitalization, and the search for answers. It is a deeply personal account of receiving a schizophrenia diagnosis, navigating recovery, and learning to build a life beyond labels and assumptions.

After writing my last post about how nursing homes and the mental health system can start to feel emotionally similar, a question hit me: Why didn’t I get stuck there? Because honestly? By all odds, I probably should have. I’ve spent over 30 years inside mental health and addiction systems. I’ve worked in shelters, clinics, housing programs, crisis services, recovery programs, and peer systems. I’ve seen 100s of people slowly disappear into diagnoses. Into routines. Into stab

If you live in New York—especially in places like Buffalo—you’ve probably been told the mental health system exists to help people recover. That’s the story. But the reality is more complicated. Because behind every service, every diagnosis, every appointment… there’s a funding structure. And that structure quietly shapes everything. The System Doesn’t Run on Recovery — It Runs on Billing In New York, most mental health services are funded through: Medicaid (the biggest playe

There’s a narrative out there that nothing in the mental health system works. And honestly… a lot of it doesn’t - and I write and speak about that side of things a lot. But every once in a while, something cuts through the noise. Something that actually helps people. Something that doesn’t just check boxes or push paperwork or keep people stuck in cycles of “treatment.” ACT teams are one of those things. What ACT Actually Is ACT stands for Assertive Community Treatment . But

Something important is being taken from peer support in mental health right now—and almost no one is calling it out. Peer support is being swallowed by the system. It did NOT come from the system. It came from people who lived through hell and sat across from someone else and said: “I’ve been there.” No hierarchy. No diagnosis. No script. Just truth. And now? It’s being turned into a job description. Certified. Standardized. Documented. Billed. Controlled. And everyone’s call