Letter to the Editor: Look beyond the mental health stigma

My my, it seems that Capstone Behavioral Healthcare (CBH) has exposed a very ugly side of Newton by purchasing a residential home to rent to those who have gone through their program and are attempting to make the transition to living within the community.

I can understand how some neighbors may have concerns and questions about what CBH is doing and how it may affect their quality of life and possibly the safety of their families. But some have gone way too far in their criticisms.

What shouldn’t be surprising, however, is how quickly some are to judge those they know nothing about. Some of the comments at the recent public hearing were outrageous to say the least. Making wild assumptions about folks simply because they have been diagnosed with types of mental illness is the result of ignorance and fear of the unknown. It seems too many folks have read too much misinformation on the internet, or seen too many movies and TV shows, and have not bothered to find out for themselves how those who suffer with some sort of mental illness are treated and the struggles they may face just to live among others in society. Many, many folks go undiagnosed with some sort of mental illness and they live and work among us, most times with us being unaware of their situation. Some empathy and understanding would be nice here.

I would also have to say that CBH shares some of the blame for not being more open and coming across as too secretive about what they are doing. Of course they are limited as to how much information they can disclose as those potential tenants have the right to privacy as determined by HIPPA laws and neighbors have no right to demand any medical conditions be disclosed to them or any without that person’s permission.

For those who claim that “these people” are criminals, drug users, child predators, rapists, etc., that sounds eerily like the same assumptions made by white folks 60 years ago to keep people of color from moving into their neighborhoods. We may not be as enlightened and evolved as we think we are.

And why on earth would a potential tenant want to reach out to those neighbors when they have these types of assumptions and attitudes about those with mental illness? Can you blame them for wanting to keep to themselves?

Mental health seems to be that last stigma left to overcome in our society. I would hope these neighbors would open their minds and treat these tenants as welcome additions to their community.

Newton should be better than this.

John Moore

Newton