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Guests: Robert C. Smith, MD and Vinod Srihari, MD,

Every day, millions of Americans face untreated mental health challenges—and too often, their first point of contact is a medical doctor unequipped to help. Most physicians - and many others who teach and advise youth - aren’t trained to recognize or treat mental health conditions, yet they’re the ones patients turn to first. This gap in training has devastating consequences, contributing to the mental health crisis we see today.

Dr. Robert Smith, a seasoned physician and thought leader, is sounding the alarm: medical doctors need fundamental training in mental health care. His new book, Has Medicine Lost Its Mind? Why Our Mental Health System is Failing Us and What Should Be Done to Cure (Prometheus Books, March 4, 2025) addresses the poor state of mental health care in the US, why it occurred, what needs to be done, and how to accomplish this politically.

Our Second Guest, Vinod Srihari, MD, spearheads a new program in CT which has just been expanded to reach the whole state after a trial run in 10 towns around New Haven. STEP is a clinic staffed by mental health providers in different fields – psychology, psychiatry, nursing, and social work. This "interdisciplinary" team seeks to provide comprehensive care for individuals who are early in the course of a psychotic illness in order to prevent symptoms from becoming disabling.

We Find Out:

• Why so many mental health issues go untreated and misdiagnosed—and what it costs us as a society.
• The value of early detection and treatment in Mental illness to help with prevention and recovery
• How medical doctors can better address mental health needs with proper training. And tips on how patients should talk to doctors about mental health.
• The hidden consequences of the mind-body split in modern medicine. The importance of integrating mindfulness and exercise into "treatment."
• Practical solutions for integrating mental health care into the broader medical system.
• 
  

LINKS:

Bob’s website:

https://www.robertcsmithmd.com/

Bob’s Book:

https://a.co/d/2yOHhlp

Mindmap:

https://mindmapct.org/

Mindy and her book: https://mindygreiling.com/

Randye and her book: https://www.randyekaye.com/

Miriam and her book: https://www.miriam-feldman.com/

Hosts:

Who:

Randye Kaye - was a morning Radio Personality bringing humor to CT families when her own son was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Now she is still a Broadcaster, Actress, Voice Talent, Speaker, and Author (Ben Behind his Voices, Happier Made Simple)

Miriam Feldman - is an artist, writer, and the mother of an adult son with schizophrenia. Her book, He Came in With It chronicles her family's story and was released to rave reviews on July 21st, 2020.

Mindy Greili

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Our websites:
Randye Kaye
Mindy Greiling
Miriam (Mimi) Feldman

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Eric J Dias is no stranger to the struggles people with addiction and severe mental illness experience. He has lived with schizoaffective disorder since he was a teenager. Eric has been a tireless advocate for people with SMI and their families.

He writes about the many issues and emotions associated with SMI (Severe Mental Illness) in his novel, I Got Sober For This.

In the story, he weaves the stories with issues that affect us all, especially when it comes to SMI - in our homes, the courts, the streets, AA meetings, detention centers, and the criminal justice system.

He currently hosts a show for the National Shattering Silence Coalition’s YouTube Channel interviewing people with lived experience with mental illness, care givers, advocates and clinicians.

We ask Eric about his story, his research, stigma, the need for community, and the power of hope in recovery.

Links:

I Got Sober for This book: https://a.co/d/4PV7Vh8

Mindy and her book: https://mindygreiling.com/

Randye and her books: https://www.randyekaye.com/

Miriam and her book: https://www.miriam-feldman.com/

Randye’s substack:

https://randyekaye.substack.com/

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Join our facebook page
Our websites:
Randye Kaye
Mindy Greiling
Miriam (Mimi) Feldman

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Returning Guest: Brian Stettin. NYC City Hall’s senior advisor on severe mental illness.

In Episode 61, we interviewed Brian Stettin, senior advisor to the Mayor Eric Adams administration on severe mental illness.

Brian drafted the legislation that became Kendra's Law when he was an assistant attorney general in 1999, after a young journalist, Kendra Webdale, was shoved into an oncoming train by a young man from Queens with a long history of mental illness.

The Adams administration's push was to have more severely mentally ill people brought to hospitals for psychiatric evaluation as compassionate intervention, and to change the state laws about the length of hospital stays.

This law is designed to apply to those who can't recognize their mental condition or take care of themselves, not just those who present an immediate threat to themselves or others.

Lately, with so many SMI and homelessness incidents in NYC making news (a homeless woman set on fire in the subway; a symptomatic mentally ill man’s death by chokehold; NY Governor Kathy Hochul’s support of getting help for those with SMI). we revisit this important issue.

Almost two years later:

• How is the program going?
• What are the successes and challenges?
• What more can be done?

Links:

Randye’s blog posts about these issues:

https://randyekaye.substack.com/p/journalists-please-stop-saying-against?r=j36ce

https://randyekaye.substack.com/p/luigi-mangione-jordan-neely-where?r=j36ce

https://www.randyekaye.com/benbehindhisvoices/journalists-stop-saying-against-their-will-its-about-care-not-force

https://www.randyekaye.com/benbehindhisvoices/my-son-will-be-homeless-this-friday-heres-why-it-didnt-need-to-happen

https://www.randyekaye.com/benbehindhisvoices/luigi-mangione-jordan-neely-mental-illness-in-the-news-one-mothers-opinion

Articles About NYC’s Compassionate Intervention:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/25/nyregion/mentally-ill-homeless-nyc.html?unlocked_article_code=1.n04.XLWi.cts0Q8s7hfkd&smid=url-share

https://gothamist.com/news/adams-launches-new-overnight-homeless-outreach-program-pairing-police-clinicians-on-nyc-subways

https://www.nydail

Want to know more?
Join our facebook page
Our websites:
Randye Kaye
Mindy Greiling
Miriam (Mimi) Feldman