Post by Logan on Jul 5, 2016 6:48:40 GMT -6
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Phill and Kelly Gunning have devoted much of their lives to working for better mental health services in Kentucky.
But earlier this year, they risked losing their lives when their adult son, who has a severe mental illness, violently attacked them, bludgeoning them on the head and face with a large rock, convinced his parents were conspiring with the government to withhold his disability check.
"He was here to kill us," said Kelly Gunning, 59. "There was no stopping him."
The couple managed to escape and call police from a neighbor's house. Now, six months later - and still recovering from injuries that included lacerations, bruises and concussions - they have redoubled efforts to get a law passed in Kentucky that would allow courts to require outpatient mental health treatment for a small group of some of the state's most seriously mentally ill individuals.
Called "Tim's Law," after Tim Morton, a Lexington man who was committed to psychiatric hospitals 37 times before he died, the measure is designed to stop the revolving door of jails, hospitals and homelessness with little benefit for such individuals.
Read more: www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/24/tims-law-backers-still-seek-mental-health-law/86135788/
But earlier this year, they risked losing their lives when their adult son, who has a severe mental illness, violently attacked them, bludgeoning them on the head and face with a large rock, convinced his parents were conspiring with the government to withhold his disability check.
"He was here to kill us," said Kelly Gunning, 59. "There was no stopping him."
The couple managed to escape and call police from a neighbor's house. Now, six months later - and still recovering from injuries that included lacerations, bruises and concussions - they have redoubled efforts to get a law passed in Kentucky that would allow courts to require outpatient mental health treatment for a small group of some of the state's most seriously mentally ill individuals.
Called "Tim's Law," after Tim Morton, a Lexington man who was committed to psychiatric hospitals 37 times before he died, the measure is designed to stop the revolving door of jails, hospitals and homelessness with little benefit for such individuals.
Read more: www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/24/tims-law-backers-still-seek-mental-health-law/86135788/