Nationally-recognized author of “Defying Mental Illness” sends Joe Biden a plan

Jan. 15, 2013 - PRLog -- According to Komarek, “Fixing mental health-related violence takes more than medical experts and background checks. There’s a different and better approach that builds on the strengths of our communities.”

Komarek wants Biden’s task force to focus on suicide prevention. “Up to the moment these mass killers start shooting, the pattern of their lives, the way they break down, looks just like suicide. The paths don’t diverge until the very end. We need to educate people about suicide risk. When signals about lethal intentions leak out, friends and family are the only ones in a position to keep anyone safe. There are 30,000 gun deaths every year, but 19,000 of these deaths are suicides. Suicides outnumber homicides by almost two to one.”

For over a decade, since his own bout with bipolar disorder, Komarek has focused on tough social problems that relate to mental illness. He has taught jail and court officials how to work safely with people with mental illness and prevent jail suicide. He ran a substance abuse treatment program, worked with youth programs and advocacy groups, and served on an anti-gang task force. He has written a guide book that contains the techniques he used to build his own comeback.

Komarek firmly believes ordinary people are the key to mental health and gun safety. “We have emphasized professional mental health services to the point where we don’t listen to families, let alone give them tools to help. We don’t even have a standard consent form to let doctors talk with family members. Families need this information to understand lethal risks as they are building up, so they can take timely action to keep people safe. The responsible gun owners I know pay great attention to risk.”

The plan Komarek sent to the Vice President’s task force includes recommendations on housing, access to treatment and supporting the mental health needs of military veterans. “Society is coming to grips with deinstitutionalization. We know that people recover when they lead stable lives and get good care. Even law enforcement is learning how to work with people with mental illness.  But we need more tools for ordinary people. My goal is to create something spread out and accessible within society that works like AA does for sober recovery, something that any church or community group can support. What ordinary people need to know is not that complicated. It takes an hour or so to cover the basics.”

Komarek’s reflected on his own recovery. “My legal career was wiped out when I experienced bipolar disorder, but my wife and family supported me as I worked with my doctors to find a proper diagnosis and the right treatment. I don’t practice law anymore, but I use the skills I have to design and implement programs that connect with justice system issues. Everyone deserves to have that sort of chance.”

Komarek’s book, Defying Mental Illness, is a plain language guide to mental illness and recovery. “I tried to make mental illness as easy to understand as possible. There’s a lot of extraneous detail and conflict in most books about mental illness. I wanted to give people the tools to recover, not just tell people how to have their disease.”

Defying Mental Illness has been named one of the “Top 20 Books for Parents and Teachers of Children with Special Needs” by Special Needs Book Review. It is available from Amazon and in every ebook format. It is published by Church Basement Press, www.churchbasement.net.

Komarek's blog, Redesigning Mental Illness, focuses on how ordinary people are changing the experience of  mental illness in America. redesigningmentalillness.blogspot.com.

Connect with Paul Komarek on twitter @pkomarek