Tony Mantor

Welcome to Why Not Me?

Embracing Autism and Mental Health Worldwide.

Joining us today is Rachel Strife.

She is the co-founder of Arizona Mad Moms, a fierce advocate for transforming mental health care for those with serious mental illness.

With her background as a chemical engineer, she brings a unique data-driven perspective to her mission, fueled by personal passion and a relentless drive for systemic change.

Her work has rallied countless families, influenced legislation, and sparked hope for better mental health support in Arizona and beyond.

Today, we'll dive into her inspiring journey and her advocacy.

So before we dive into our episode, we'll be back with an uninterrupted show right after a word from our sponsors.

Thanks for joining us today.

Oh, it's my pleasure.

If you would, give us a little background on how you got involved in what you're doing.

With all this happening, what changed?

You've gone all through this.

You've seen everything that you've seen.

I know you work with legislators and senators.

I'm curious, what do you see as the big challenge?

You just brought up that a lot of the hospitals have been closed over the last few decades and the prisons have become the de facto hospitals.

How do we get around that so this can stop, so that these people can get treated with a little more respect?

Because as you said, if a person doesn't have any lived experience on this, they don't know what the heck is happening.

They do not understand this.