Out on my reporting trips I’m often overwhelmed by how many people I meet who tell me they cannot afford therapy or inpatient treatments that they know they need, that they cannot find providers who look like them or show respect for their personal and cultural experiences. I hear that their sick family members have had more interactions with the criminal justice system than they have with social safety nets or hospitals, and that the more stressors, poverty, and violence they are subjected to, the less empathy they seem to receive from their neighbors.
