tomorrow was yesterday

By Dede Ranahan with 64 Co-Authors

In the selected snapshots from on-going sagas (2016 to the present), you’ll read about grim realities — terrible group homes, suicides, adult children killed by police, incarcerations and solitary confinement, lack of beds, family chaos, substance abuse, ineffective medications, “dying with their rights on,” heart-breaking HIPAA restrictions, hallucinations, homelessness, sorrow, sadness, hurt, and anger. Simultaneously, you’ll read about profound love, caregiving, gratitude, forgiveness, hope, strength, persistence, resilience, generosity, leadership, courage, advocacy, pursuing dreams, understanding, and fighting for change.

Here’s the pitch. The ask. We want you, first and foremost, to read our stories. Set aside any conscious biases about serious mental illness and the people and families who struggle with them. Imagine us as relatives or friends — people you care deeply about. Pick up Tomorrow Was Yesterday and settle in for the next few hours. Kick off your shoes and slide into the worn-out shoes we mothers wear. Try them on for size. See how they feel. Are they comfortable? Do they cause pain?

If you read every story, and if you’ve not had personal or family experience with SMI, I guarantee you’ll be a different person than you are right now. You’ll entertain new thoughts and ideas about our mental health system. You’ll wish us well in our efforts. You’ll identify something you can do, in your own life, to help us prevail and obtain the mental health/illness care we desperately need.

And if you’re another SMI mom reading Tomorrow Was Yesterday, trust me. Wherever you are, I’m confident you’re going to feel less alone.

Please. Begin. I’ll rejoin you, after the last story, and we’ll talk some more.

From the Conclusion — The Close:

…Nobody is being held responsible to improve our mental health system even though it’s everybody’s job. Sure, multiple pockets of forward action exist. But a coordinated government effort with national implementation plans? With the buck stops here authority? Haven’t heard of one.

So what can I do? What can you do? In the next few pages, I’ve included a Grassroots Five-Part Plan to Address Serious Mental Illness and a sample cover letter. In 2019, this plan was collaboratively developed by SMI advocates from across the country. It’s a starting point. We’re asking Everybody, Somebody, and Anybody (sorry Nobody) to share this plan with their political representatives, doctors, therapists, psychiatrists, pastors, families, neighbors, and friends. That’s one thing each of us can do.
  
I’ve also added a list — right after this section — of twenty-five actions each of us could take. If each of us takes one or two of the suggested actions, we’ll intensify the call for better mental health/illness care and a Department of Actually Doing Something.
  
As it stands today, the US mental health/illness system is filled with political landmines and gut-wrenching divisions: parents vs. children, peer organizations vs. family organizations, voluntary vs. involuntary treatment concepts, psychiatrist vs. psychologist turf wars, state vs. federal jurisdictions, HIPAA restrictions vs. parental rights, lack of beds vs. incarceration, unions vs. providers, psychiatry vs. anti-psychiatry, civil rights vs. dying with your rights on, NIMBYism vs. housing, traditional medicine vs. holistic medicine, and funded advocacy organizations vs. unfunded grassroots advocacy efforts. I watched my son Pat die because the system is tied up in bureaucratic and philosophical  knots.
  
You're reading Tomorrow Was Yesterday, and considering what you can do to help our SMI families, is appreciated by SMI mothers/caregivers writing in this book and by SMI mothers/caregivers everywhere. “Thank you” is an understatement. We value your alliance more than you will ever know.

On November 23, 2020, Tomorrow Was Yesterday arrived live on Amazon and in IngramSpark outlets. One marker of a “successful” self-published book is 250 book sales in a year. In two months, Tomorrow Was Yesterday has far surpassed this goal. And reader reviews and responses are enthusiastic:
  
“I couldn’t put the book down. I didn’t know about any of this.”

"I just read Tomorrow was Yesterday and I'm so glad I did. I just lost my cousin to SMI last month and this book helped me better understand the realities of it all and to have more compassion for people in that situation. I'm also motivated to act. Can you please send me a copy of the plan, a cover letter, extended list of SMI needs, and any other relevant resources? I'd like to email local, state, and national politicians.”

“I highly recommend this book!”

“I will send many copies of this book to legislators and recommend that others do the same in your own state or county.”

“I was eager to get my hands on this book and read it. It's truly mesmerizing. Extremely powerful stories from mothers that shed light on the broken mental health system. I don't think I'm lying when I say everyone should read this book and share it.”

“This book is a must read! Everyone should read it especially those who work in health care, law enforcement, social work or are involved in policy making. In their own words family members around the country tell their stories of having a loved one who suffers from a severe mental illness. Against almost impossible odds they try to find help for their loved one in a system that refuses to acknowledge and meet their needs... and often even punishes them for being ill. It tells of unspeakable suffering and wasted potential and all too often these stories end in tragedy. Schizophrenia has been described as ‘the very worst illness anyone could have,’…yet it and other serious mental illnesses are swept under the rug, dismissed as behavior problems and treated in a haphazard way if they are treated at all. These stories show the results of this broken system. They also highlight the best in humanity...love that refuses to give up, that refuses to stop trying even when there are no help, no answers, and no end in sight.”
  
In other words, our book is resonating. Copies are being shared with local, state, and national politicians. I personally have mailed more than 30 copies to mental health/illness organizations, politicians, and media representatives, and I have more to send.  At 76 years of age, I’m not shy. I figure I/we have nothing to lose. Also, preliminary discussions have taken place with several filmmakers for possible documentary treatments. We’ll see what comes from these early conversations. As with the book, control of the message is of paramount importance.

In closing, I want to acknowledge the mothers/caregivers from 28 states — many are NSSC members — who share their stories in Tomorrow Was Yesterday. Their stories are honest, direct, unpretentious and brave. In alphabetical order:  
  
Theresa A., Holly Alston, Margie Annis, Anonymous, April, Audrey Adams Auernheimer, Harriet B., Kathy Baker, Gwendolyn Barley, Tama Bell, Joyce Berryman, Ronni Blumenthal, Judy Waldo Bracken, Mara Briere, Allison Brown, Kendra Burgos, GG Burns, Mary A. Butler, Sarah C., Leslie Carpenter, Sylvia Charters, Laurie Lethbridge Christmas, Jerri Clark, Dawn MacTaggart Connolly, Elizabeth Courtois, Sonia Fletcher Dinger, Ashley Doonan & Cathie Curtis, Donna Erickson, Deborah Fabos, Heidi Frank, Julia Gillies, Jeanne Gore, Val Greenoak, Deborah Harper, Amy Kerr, Nikki Landis, Martha, Carole McAfee, Angela McCandless, Sherri McGimsey, Jacque Cowger McKinney, Rhonda Meth, Kelli Nidey, Teresa Pasquini, Laura Pogliano, Linda Rippe Privatte/CJ Hanson, Dede Ranahan, Rebecca Reinig, Karen Riches, Ellie Shukert, Kat Shultz, Kecia Bolken Speck, Joann Strunk, Laurie Turley/Carol A. Snyder, Sandy Turner, Sharon Underwood, Cheri VanSant, Francie VanZandt, Darlene Been Watkins, Christi Weeks, Kimberlee Cooper West, Channin Henry Williams, Maggie Willis, and Pat Wood.
  
From the back cover:
We mothers, in Tomorrow Was Yesterday, are counting on you to help us use outrage and compassion to reach a tipping point for change. We’re relying on your word of mouth support to get these stories out to the broader, unknowing public. It has no idea how abysmal things are. — Dede Ranahan

“I am confident these stories will cause the world to wake up, take notice, and implement the change we so badly need.” — Miriam Feldman, author of He Came In With It: A Portrait of Motherhood and Madness.

“Reading these intimate accounts will change you. It changed me.” — Steve Goldbloom, writer, producer, director, and creator of the Brief But Spectacular series for PBS NewHour.

“If these stories can’t convince policy makers, I don’t now what will.” — Mindy Greiling, author of Fix What You Can: Schizophrenia and a Lawmaker’s Fight for Her Son.
  
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