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We sit down with Connecticut State Senator Christine Cohen and advocate Denise Paley to unpack how mental health legislation gets built, watered down, and sometimes rescued through strategy and coalition work. 

We focus on crisis intervention training, prison mental health care, and the hard questions around rights, re-entry, and what real accountability looks like. 
• Senator Cohen’s personal path into mental health advocacy 
• why mental health bills stall between chambers and committees 
• compromise as a necessity and a long-term risk 
• budget priorities and the fight to fund care 
• stigma around mental illness and incarcerated people 
• how advocates and legislators build trust and momentum 
• crisis intervention team training as a practical reform 
• re-entry realities and why untreated illness drives recidivism 
• staffing shortages for corrections officers and mental health providers 
• Assisted Outpatient Treatment and the ethics of forced care 
• anosognosia and why refusal is not always choice 
• prevention through school-based mental health support 
• coalition building and making marginalized people visible 
If you know someone who has a story to share, tell them to contact us at whynotme.world. 
One last thing spread the word about why not me. 

INTRO/OUTRO Music: T. Wild

Mantor Music BMI

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intro/outro music bed written by T. Wild
Why Not Me the World music published by Mantor Music (BMI)