Our founder, Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, understood the loneliness and grief that often comes with having a family member with severe mental illness (SMI). His mission for every person with SMI to receive timely and effective treatment was, in large part, a response to preventable tragedies, which often occur because the ill person doesn't think they are sick and therefore won't accept help.
In this month's episode of SMI Spotlight, Dr. Xavier Amador speaks with Maria Sutherland, a mother who lost her son in New Mexico after he had been homeless and missing. Michael Sutherland struggled with schizophrenia for years before he was found dead in October 2024 at the age of 39. Maria was her son's legal "treatment guardian," but the order had expired at the time of his death, and the system prevented her from effectively managing his care, especially since she couldn't force him to receive it. As Maria tells Dr. Amador in their candid and
heartbreaking conversation, "He didn't think he had a problem."
Maria generously shared Michael's story with the explicit hope that the tragic loss of her son will better inform people and policies, and save another family from anguish and tragedy.
