1/ One of the first things they ask about during so called wellness checks is if you’ve been taking your medication. The assumptions- that Mad people are always on meds, that we want to take meds etc. And then the unspoken directive that we must always comply with taking meds.

I can remember a particularly bad time in Vancouver where the cops said, “have you been taking too much of your medication? Too little?”, before telling my sister “we always like to get here first in case they are successful and die.” Before forcing me into psych detention.

3/ I’ve never had a wellness check that felt supportive of caring or in anyway helpful- to me, to my family, to anyone involved in the crisis. Coming in in a uniform of violence, with guns, this does not make you feel safe in crisis. Or like they are there to help.

And the solution isn’t nicer cops who take you and detain you in instead of killing you. We need to abolish our reliance on police and prisons to solve our fear of Madness and our saneism.