Ruth Johnston

Levi said, you guys are just persecuting me for my religious beliefs. And everybody told us, again, wait for, quote unquote, something to happen and hope it's not very bad. It's maddening. It's wrong.

That's right. Over time. And so with Levi, again, because he was not typical. OK, you can get a lot of schizophrenia stories that sound like this. My son was a freshman at Yale and he was on the football team. And then he started to get weird. OK, great. You know what? My son wasn't. My son was always struggling and it was always hard.

That's right. Over time. And so with Levi, again, because he was not typical. OK, you can get a lot of schizophrenia stories that sound like this. My son was a freshman at Yale and he was on the football team. And then he started to get weird. OK, great. You know what? My son wasn't. My son was always struggling and it was always hard.

That's right. Over time. And so with Levi, again, because he was not typical. OK, you can get a lot of schizophrenia stories that sound like this. My son was a freshman at Yale and he was on the football team. And then he started to get weird. OK, great. You know what? My son wasn't. My son was always struggling and it was always hard.

And so when he started to have more problems, we couldn't tell. So by the time we were sure, you're right. It's a genuine damage. Because schizophrenia is more like Alzheimer's than it is like bipolar disorder. And so the time you see this getting worse. Yeah.

And so when he started to have more problems, we couldn't tell. So by the time we were sure, you're right. It's a genuine damage. Because schizophrenia is more like Alzheimer's than it is like bipolar disorder. And so the time you see this getting worse. Yeah.

And so when he started to have more problems, we couldn't tell. So by the time we were sure, you're right. It's a genuine damage. Because schizophrenia is more like Alzheimer's than it is like bipolar disorder. And so the time you see this getting worse. Yeah.

So first of all, we had to get legislative change in the state. I did a little bit what I could back then, just sharing the story. Most of that was carried out by treatment advocacy center, having a negotiator go in and start working with the legislator and the counties and the people who were against it. and worked out a bill, and in 2018 it was signed into law.

So first of all, we had to get legislative change in the state. I did a little bit what I could back then, just sharing the story. Most of that was carried out by treatment advocacy center, having a negotiator go in and start working with the legislator and the counties and the people who were against it. and worked out a bill, and in 2018 it was signed into law.

So first of all, we had to get legislative change in the state. I did a little bit what I could back then, just sharing the story. Most of that was carried out by treatment advocacy center, having a negotiator go in and start working with the legislator and the counties and the people who were against it. and worked out a bill, and in 2018 it was signed into law.

But what the bill did is it modified our Mental Health Procedures Act to permit a program, but specifically every county on January 1st can get a waiver, which essentially means until somebody creates a program specifically for this and opts in, the law is not in effect anywhere. So basically it just kicked the can down the road to the counties. But that's okay because you can work with a county.

But what the bill did is it modified our Mental Health Procedures Act to permit a program, but specifically every county on January 1st can get a waiver, which essentially means until somebody creates a program specifically for this and opts in, the law is not in effect anywhere. So basically it just kicked the can down the road to the counties. But that's okay because you can work with a county.

But what the bill did is it modified our Mental Health Procedures Act to permit a program, but specifically every county on January 1st can get a waiver, which essentially means until somebody creates a program specifically for this and opts in, the law is not in effect anywhere. So basically it just kicked the can down the road to the counties. But that's okay because you can work with a county.

State's really bigger than I can do. I've talked to the county health department, told my story. That didn't really get anywhere because they just, they don't believe that my son would have obeyed a civil order. I think he would have. He was a very law-abiding guy. He liked cops. He didn't want to be in trouble.

State's really bigger than I can do. I've talked to the county health department, told my story. That didn't really get anywhere because they just, they don't believe that my son would have obeyed a civil order. I think he would have. He was a very law-abiding guy. He liked cops. He didn't want to be in trouble.

State's really bigger than I can do. I've talked to the county health department, told my story. That didn't really get anywhere because they just, they don't believe that my son would have obeyed a civil order. I think he would have. He was a very law-abiding guy. He liked cops. He didn't want to be in trouble.

Yeah, I can't say I wouldn't describe him as structured, but yeah, he didn't want to be viewed as bad and he didn't want to hurt anybody. He would say, I don't want to hurt anybody. So I think he would have obeyed a civil court. They call it the black robe effect. Put someone in front of a judge and the judge says, son, you're going to be working with this team. And they go, OK.

Yeah, I can't say I wouldn't describe him as structured, but yeah, he didn't want to be viewed as bad and he didn't want to hurt anybody. He would say, I don't want to hurt anybody. So I think he would have obeyed a civil court. They call it the black robe effect. Put someone in front of a judge and the judge says, son, you're going to be working with this team. And they go, OK.

Yeah, I can't say I wouldn't describe him as structured, but yeah, he didn't want to be viewed as bad and he didn't want to hurt anybody. He would say, I don't want to hurt anybody. So I think he would have obeyed a civil court. They call it the black robe effect. Put someone in front of a judge and the judge says, son, you're going to be working with this team. And they go, OK.

I think it would have worked, but when I talked to the county, apparently they just dismissed it. They just didn't believe. So I've gone and I've tried to talk to other people. I've talked to some of the judges. I've sent letters to all of the judges, the police chiefs.