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

25 thoughts on “Housing and the ‘Right to Fail’ For People With Severe Mental Illness (Full Documentary) | FRONTLINE”

1. Yeah my older sister has mental illness that comes from her biological dads side of his family. with severe depression dillusions diagnosed 5150 and she makes herself ill all the time,no body wants to deal with her. she has stigma they all do. I don't have mental illness or stigmas, but it is sometimes a bit much dealing with people with mental illness. I do my best. I have to treat her like a child, because she can not reason at all and talks like a 4 year old at times. She has no drug addiction nor do I. I find myself having to work to supplement her income because she can not keep a job and she lies alot, but loves podcast like most mental ill people.

2. Nobody knows anything

3. Euthanasia of the severely and incurably mentally ill should be considered an option. Look at the burden they place on the overall welfare of society.

4. I don't think "freedom to fail" is dignified. Freedom is not the ultimate virtue. I'd argue compassion is.

5. We as a society love to use that word, "fail". It allows us to place the responsibility on others…Life is not about success or failure, it is about learning to love one another. Sadly, far to many have failed this simple test. They love their own but care not for those around them.,

6. so here is the deal with mental health issues….not everybody should be walking amongst the rest of us and as a society we can't accommodate all the people with mental health issues. It is just a sad fact that many of these people are better off not living anymore

7. Now we put mentally ill people on the street so nature kills them 😢 I think insane asylums was something

8. One of the reasons the supports get withdrawn is the wait lists are long. Why are the wait lists long? Not enough workers. Why? The programs don't have the budget, not enough public tax money, and the jobs pay so low that nobody can afford to work long.

9. 14:24 this is crazy. They threw away what you need right before you arrived…of course.

10. Living on one's own is isolating and hard on anyone, even those of us with more capacites. It's strange to me that this is seen as a measure of health, when rampant individualism in this society is actually contrary to well being for humans. These people are just thrown into dinky apartments, with lip service supports, not woven into community, aren't given a purpose…anyone would decompensate under those circumstances.

11. Beautiful. Ty

12. Now look at all the horrible violence that’s happening to innocent people because of this effort to give so-called dignity to people who are clearly incapable of doing the bare minimum to take care of themselves. We have to reimagine solutions for the very real problem of mental illness. We have to stop pretending de-pathologizing is helpful. We have to stop pretending many mentally unstable people are not violent. We have to stop pretending these folks are capable of taking care of themselves or they can be relied on to take their meds or not abuse drugs and alcohol or keep themselves or their homes clean. Their own families are at the end of their ropes. This is a failed experiment that has done nothing to help anyone. Something else MUST be done. It’s cruel to everyone.

13. Very uplifting, sad, hopeful… And shows the delicate balance between independence and getting the help we sometimes need. Personally, coming from a supportive helping background with borderline autistic and others living in independent housing, this episode showed great promise and I’m very encouraged by the human spirit. Thank you!

14. His brother probably should have checked on him too , he can’t blame the system if he didn’t is just as guilty of being negligent also.

15. It's about people with serious mental illness: Democrats.

16. What causes mental illness?

17. This administrators who lets these people fail are sick

18. Unless a Republican does it then it's criminal!

19. This right to fail is total bs crap to me. Right to be homeless, right to hear voices that torment & frighten you. Take away all your relationships even with your family. The ER are failing people. My son was taken on a 72 hr hold he has no awareness of his illness. They let him go in 4 hrs with the 3 people signing off head of ER, intern& PA. After further reading I found out this is ok if there are no mental health people in the building. The hospital he went to has a Behavioral health unit upstairs but no one was ever set down to evaluate him. He was high but it was the 1st times in months he had left my house& I explained to staff that he acts like this without drugs or alcohol in his system. I told them he talks to himself, he hears voices, delusional & sometimes see unseen people trying to attack him. He was very combative and I feel like they just sedated him waited til he calmed down let him go, not knowing what he would do. They diagnosed him with agitation which is a symptom not a diagnosis. As hard as it was i believed the day they took him he at least get helped. Before he came to my home he had crisis called on him several times without them taking him to hospital. The fact is that they really are resistant to even take people under the 5150 law for the 72 hrs so just by the fact he was taken in in handcuffs should of told them it was serious. In our town the crisis team comes with an police officer. The officer is not trained so its luck of the draw& it was in my area with crisis that a young man was having a mental health crisis & was tazed to the point of no longer being here so its very easy for me to be afraid that things will go very wrong. He will fight them, he will not go willingly so yes im afraid to call& on certain days he knows not to say magic words danger to himself or others. If I get him sent to hospital will they just send him home. His is also drug induced, I brought him here hoping that if he stayed clean the effects would slowly wear off& his brain would reboot. Its has been over a yr & he still has symptoms some days worse than other. I have called every state& local mental health place in the state. I called NAMI who gave me a number where the agency is supposed to help you get him evaluated through the courts and get appropriate treatment. I have called all summer a few times a week never answer never call back. I had a local mental health person tell me with bail reform if he does something stupid he would get out really if he is having a delusion & think someone is going to hurt him we could be looking at serious changes. What a joke. I called another place and they said they get people out of mental health places not in at least that answered. He is homeless without me and probably would be just fine living in a homeless camp if they didn't tear them down. He justifies all this by believing he owns my house. I also went to court 3xs with him because he was caught with drug. The one lawyer told the judge he was past drug addiction and in need of mental help shrug from the judge the follow up with another judge I was not allowed to speak because he would not go to drug program he got misdemeanor he thinks he got violation. He owes a fine so he probably eventually will get picked up on warrant but it will be jail or more time to pay i will not be allowed to talk. If I passed away tomm he would be on the street penniless & confused, delusional. He sits on my stoop most days waiting for a ride from this week John Rockefeller to pick him up. He no longer leaves my house having not even a camp to go to so that is not a issue. My husband thinks its on him if your sick you go get help doesn't understand agnosia so its just me dealing with it

20. As a daughter of people that did not have to love me, but chose to love me, Nester resonates with me. I was the baby. I was the last girl that a crazy Vietnam vet who had no children of his own, he raised five of us girls. There is something about that love that fundamentally changes you.
    He called me Elf Princess, because I have slightly pointed ears, and, well I’m incredibly short…

21. Why wasn't Nester living with his mother?

22. Bad caretaking

23. Subject: Raising Awareness About Mental Health, 911 Calls, and Public Safety

    I want to share my experience to highlight a serious and growing concern for individuals living with mental health challenges. On [date], I placed a 911 call seeking help for acute anxiety and depression. I made no threats, did not engage in violence, and simply asked for medical assistance.

    Instead of receiving care, I was met with eight armed officers pointing assault rifles at me, even though I was kneeling, unarmed, and fully compliant. The officers mischaracterized my call as a “domestic fight” despite my wife repeatedly stating there was no altercation. I was arrested and taken to jail, where I received no medical evaluation or treatment, despite being told I would.

    This experience is deeply troubling, not only personally but for the community. It illustrates a dangerous precedent: individuals in mental health crisis may now fear calling 911 for help, worrying that they could be arrested, mischaracterized, or treated with excessive force. Mental health emergencies are already frightening and isolating. Creating a system that punishes people for asking for help only exacerbates the risk of harm.

    Seeking help is one of the hardest things a person with a mental health condition can do. People often reach out to prevent situations from escalating to violence or harm. When those requests are met with force, arrest, or humiliation, it sends a clear message: asking for help can be punished. This is not only unfair—it is dangerous for public safety.

    I share my story to raise awareness and urge law enforcement agencies, public officials, and the community to consider how we respond to mental health crises. Policies and practices must ensure that those in crisis are treated with care, safety, and compassion, not fear. We must create an environment where individuals feel safe to seek help before situations escalate, not one where fear of retaliation silences them.

    Mental health should never be criminalized. I hope my experience encourages meaningful change so that no one else is afraid to call 911 in a moment of crisis.

24. Very emotional documentary and enjoyable to watch, thank you for sharing 🙏❤️⭐️

25. Nonsense radical liberal policies like this are why Jordan Neely is dead.

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