I'm a writer, that's my job.
What I do with regard to this issue is I advocate here and elsewhere for proper and effective treatment of mentally ill teens.
I care for my own bipolar child, and I homeschool her because the local schools didn't understand the condition enough to be a safe place for her---and would have had to spend a lot of money to get the training so they would understand.
I contribute the perspective of an adult with bipolar disorder, which was early onset. I grew up with it, and since it runs in families, I have a lot of relatives with either bipolar disorder or one of the less serious mental health problems that run in the same families as bipolar disorder.
I try to remind people on *both* sides that there are real mental illnesses, serious ones, that really do need medication and *appropriate* treatment. There are people who may occasionally need *appropriate* residential care.
And, with respect, anyone running a residential facility for troubled teens *does* need an advanced degree in either social work or psychology, preferably psychology. If for no other reason, they need to be able to recognize when a kid has an illness that they aren't able to treat appropriately at their facility *or* that makes their normal treatment methods countraindicated for *that child*.
The only reason I take my time reading Fornits is that I filter all the gab for the bits of real news, which show up here better and quicker than many other places, and forward that news to a number of people who are concerned with this issue so that they don't have to take the time to weed through the cruft.
By "news" I mean actual events like deaths, closings, openings, lawsuits--usually I only report those at the result stage.
As a grassroots activist, I serve as an information filter and conduit to distill news and facts out of the opinion and forward it to the people who care so it doesn't take so much time.
I post a lot because as a writer, talking in writing comes about as naturally as breathing and, well, I'm already here each morning and evening checking to see if any actual news came in.
And, with respect, talking *is* action, at a certain level. My talking has been a key part of getting new legislation passed on multiple occasions on one of my other issues of concern.
I'm an ideas person. Where other people sometimes think, "Oh, we can't do anything about this," sometimes I see a way to put together legislation that is actually enforceable and actually works.
An example: I'm also a gun rights activist. When various major cities were suing gun manufacturers and trying to get by lawsuits what they couldn't get in the legislatures and Congress, I came up with the idea of state legislatures passing laws barring the cities from bringing those suits.
Now, I don't know for a fact that nobody else came up with that idea independently of me. What I *do* know is that I came up with it myself, and I posted it to a forum where I knew several NRA board of directors members were reading the forum, specifically including my postings. And I know that it was only a couple of months *after* I posted it, never having seen it posted or discussed anywhere by anyone else, that the NRA started actually pursuing that legislation at the state level.
It is now law in many states.
And I was the first domino in the chain of dominos, as far as I can tell.
It wasn't the first time I've been actively involved in the successful passage of legislation.
I write my congressman and senator on issues, and I go to townhall meetings. I take awhile carefully crafting the very persuasive and contagious soundbyte that I will put into my question when the congressman or senator eventually calls on me. I am usually able to get rousing applause for the line, and shift the opinion of the room.
I persuade. And I'm *good* at it. And I'm good at targetting it where it will do the most good. And I'm good at speaking in public and making what I say stick in people's minds in a way that they agree with it and it shifts their position towards the one I want advanced.
I'm a pro with words. And I know how to use my skills. *That's* what I do.
Timoclea
(Real name = Julie Cochrane, and I'm a New York Times bestselling author---my first book, the only one out so far, hit the NYT Hardcover Fiction extended list at number 31 for a week in October---but for SF, making the list *at all* is pretty darned good. And, it helps a lot that my coauthor is famous, etc. But I'm good at what I do---and I'm an experienced activist.)
