Housing and the 'Right to Fail' For People With Severe Mental Illness (Full Documentary) | FRONTLINE

Following the lives of former group home residents who are now on their own, FRONTLINE and ProPublica investigate New York’s effort to let people with mental illnesses live independently.

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Thousands of New Yorkers with severe mental illnesses won the chance to live independently in supported housing, following a 2014 federal court order. FRONTLINE and ProPublica investigate what’s happened to people moved from adult homes into apartments and find more than two dozen cases in which the system failed, sometimes with deadly consequences.

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Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation, the Park Foundation, The John and Helen Glessner Family Trust, and the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund with major support from Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation.

[ericandsarahsmom]

Programs like "Frontline" are why I watch PBS. This is real journalism -- not the fluff we see on the networks.

[christinewatson]

I'd LOVE to see a documentary like this on people who are too disabled to be employed but don't qualify for disability benefits. There are SO many and it's a HUGE problem.

[susand]

I was working for a state hospital in the 70's and we placed people in the community and checked on them afterwards and filled their schedules with work programs, social programs and we NEVER left them in an isolated situation. To help Schizophrenics function, you have to provide this support. We also provided a program before discharge that taught how to take care of their surroundings and themselves, cooking, cleaning.. There was always a highly functioning person on the premises of their new home, who monitored medication and provided meals. SSI income paid for this. We made sure their checks were going to them. They had our phone number and we would provide support. If you isolate a seriously disturbed person, in any living situation, the consequences are gruesome. You don't stick them in an apt and walk away. That's nuts! Nobody wants to pay for the support they need. Our program back then was cut back and cut back until none of us wanted to work there. So it's not that we don't know how to do this. This was 40 years ago!

[angiesunnie]

As a mother of a child with a disability I am concerned for his adult existence, scary. Our society doesn't care unless it can make a profit from our problems.

[mamabolang]

This is what journalism should be. Opening eyes. Raising awareness. Challenging viewers' intelligence and humanity. Keep up the good work, PBS♥️

[SDubya.]

This documentary was heartbreaking. I lost my partner 6 years ago, he had schizophrenia, he would have appreciated the way PBS showed respect to these people through their journalism. He was saddened how tv shows depicted “crazy people” and when his own demons caught up with him he took his life. He valued his independence but felt as though every second of every day was a show that he had to put on for the world so that no one knew his secret. I miss him so much.
Thank you for presenting this terrible truth.

[cantbeatthebay]

This is REAL journalism. This kind of stuff needs to be addressed.

[sequentivero]

Nestor's mother's friend is a wonderful woman. May the universe bless her.

[vilerabbit]

"The records were thrown out right before he arrived."

Wow... Just... Wow. I worked in a group home setting for 7 years in New Jersey and I am absolutely disgusted at what this documentary is showing. It is sad how this country treats the mentally disabled. We can do better.

Thank you for this documentary. PBS is doing amazing work with all these documentaries.

[stephanielopez]

I work overnight at a hotel and have been just watching documentary after documentary, and unfortunately I get a lot of transients step into the property, and one thing I have learned is that sometimes its just human interaction that they are looking for. Breaks my heart i offer them a drink and a snack but sadly have to tell them to go, but I make sure to make them feel like a normal human being (even though there is no such thing as normal). GREAT DOC

[grumpy]

Life is difficult enough even without severe mental illness.

Good piece

[neesasuncheuri]

THANK YOU for this important work. I've worked in supported housing as a peer specialist for 6 years, specifically in Eastern Queens, and this has been my life's work, working with folks like Nestor. These are amazing people, with stories and wisdom and respectable life experience, and we need to recognize this. I myself have schizoaffective disorder, and I only avoided public housing because my mother housed me. Working as a peer helped me get my wellness back, and I returned to school to get a masters degree in social work degree. Now I'm an LMSW in New York State. I want to give back to the community. This is my community. THANK YOU!

[lovely-mkrt]

I’m a retired nurse. I’ve been trying to help a former patient, for 21 years. She went to college and graduated to homelessness and despair Every time I see her in town I follow up on her medication, housing, and personal grooming. It’s so hard to get multiple agencies to come together or follow up. It’s because their is no ONE system in place to help these very vulnerable people! I’ve watched in horror her demise. She’s been beaten up twice and assaulted once. Every time she’s stable the doctors put her on multiple medications that have side effects, that are just as bad as the diagnosis. This video is so very important for all healthcare to see. And my hope is that a national program will be put in place to help and support anyone at risk.

[esego]

As a retired social worker I blame huge caseloads for those forgotten by all systems. Social workers are not interested in forming working relationships with persons such as Bernard. Enter an apartment, look at the refrigerator and leave. No one wants to actually do the work of monitoring and supporting in a humane and ongoing pattern. Caring for those such as Nestor is the job of at least one person who visits daily, encourages relationships with others and assures adequate nutrition. I once showed a client, as a CPS social worker, how to prepare and bake a Thanksgiving turkey. I bought additional ingredients and left detailed instructions that were followed to the letter. I was penalized for showing compassion and constructive skills that could have built her confidence as a parent and contributed to the eventual return of children. Nothing advocates for family reunification and everything in favor of foster care limbo. Persons such as Nestor suffer from a lack of compassionate social workers and others to advocate for them. These interviews with administrators demonstrate what a brutal nation we live in.

[CherieDeDieu]

I have depression and have an uncle with schizophrenia. It makes me so angry how society and the government just doesn't care enough about people with mental illness. People only get to understand the seriousness and need for care when they or their loved ones get it. Thanks for finally starting these conversations.

So sorry for the ill people who have died. May their souls rest in eternal peace.

[neonnoir]

My mom was one of them, they found her an apartment and gave her custody of 4 year old me. She fought the illness with everything she had for my sake. We made it. She's come a long way under my care and lives an almost normal life. Many children of schizophrenics abandon their parents and I understand why. Her biggest fear was that I would inherit it, and she kept me in therapy my entire childhood.

[katelily]

This is what I am going through. My case worker is suppose to check in on me EVERY WEEK. She has only checked on me 3 times in the past 5 months. I am failing miserably and close to living on the streets. No matter how much I beg and plead, I can't get the help I need. I have repeatedly failed living independently, yet these agencies leave me alone to fail and die.

[AmallieGames]

The fact that they offer a level of support and then when the patient does well at that level they yoink it away is insane. If they are doing well that could be the level of support that person requires.

[tobymesquita]

Nestor’s mother’s friend Nora is an angel! Her tenderness towards him is quite moving!

[alison]

Mental illnesses are chronic....the help Nestor is receiving at the end should be lifelong. Period. It's so good to see him doing so well.