Finding him among the living

Any mother would die for their child, but how do you live for them?

Dr Jessica Revill is a psychologist and parent survivor to the loss of her Autistic son Gregory. She wrote the memoir of his death “Find him Among the Living” in 2020. In her book, her investigations into the mental health system, suicide and Autism revealed not a ‘broken system’ but an absent one. Coming from the perspective of both lived experience and research raises questions about the following:

• Is the health care’s separation of health from mental health helping or hindering suicide prevention?
• Doctor education and disability.
• Public health’s approach to prevention comparing preventing road deaths versus suicide deaths.
• A mental health curriculum in schools. What would that look like?
• How does de-institutionalization help or hinder the mental health of people with disabilities and mental illness?
• Non-clinical support systems.
• The emergency room.