Letter: Moving from mental health awareness to accountability this May – Anchorage Daily News

While May is Mental Health Awareness Month, “awareness” is no longer enough for families in Alaska. As state policy director for the National Shattering Silence Coalition, I witness the “standard of neglect” daily.
My adult daughter, Angelia, developed schizophrenia (no dual diagnosis) in 2020. I became her guardian and caregiver in 2023, and we have exhausted every resource since then — leaving Angelia stuck at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute since October 2025. Approximately $2,500 per day (as cited in recent State of Alaska FY 2027 governor’s operating budget documents). This equates to roughly $75,000 per month; $525,000 since October 2025.
Let’s do better, Alaska!
This systemic abandonment is more than a moral failure; it is a $343 billion annual “neglect tax” on our economy through ER cycles, homelessness and jail cells. Alaska faces dangerously long ER boarding times and a critical shortage of psychiatric beds.
We must move from criminal containment to clinical accountability, with a national standard of care that replaces the “right to be sick” with the right to be well.
— Krista Schooley, Soldotna
Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Please include your contact info. Letters under 200 words will have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length. If you’re citing statistics or published sources, please include citations or links. Read our full opinion guidelines here.
1
2
3
4
5
Anchorage Daily News
300 W. 31st Ave.
Anchorage, Alaska, 99503

source