Thirteen months. ⌚

That’s how long one young woman in the UK waited for mental health care. She attempted suicide during that wait. Her mother pleaded for help. No one came.

A nurse from the Royal College of Nursing in the U.K. didn’t hold back:

“It’s a scandal in plain sight.”

And it is.

Because when the help you need takes more than a year or never comes at all, it doesn’t just delay care.

It deepens stigma.

What Happens When No One Comes

The numbers are brutal:

- 1.8 million+ people waiting for mental health services in the UK

- 1 in 6 psychiatry roles unfilled

- Some told to wait 9 to 13 months for help

Want to read more about this mental health crisis in the UK? Read here and here.

But the deeper damage isn’t just in the stats.

It’s in what the silence teaches people.

When you finally speak up… and nothing happens… you stop speaking.

You start wondering if you were overreacting.

You stop believing help is real.

You sit with your pain and say nothing.

That’s how stigma grows:

Quietly.

Systemically.

While people are still waiting.

Meanwhile back in the United States…

Let’s not get smug in our American pride.

We’ve got big healthcare problems of our own.

Insurance red tape and the unsustainable costs for members. Out-of-pocket plus high deductibles. Waitlists. Limited providers. On the mental health provider side of things, abysmal insurance reimbursement rates are rampant, and ongoing difficulties remain with contacting people who are helpful. Venture capitalists’ startups that specialize in burning out therapists with high caseload demands.

And still, some voices keep shouting that the answer is a one-size-fits-all government-run model.

I can understand why people want the government to “fix it.” And it would likely be a good news, bad news situation.

But one simply needs to look at the UK and our version of healthcare for veterans, the VA system, to know that the government throwing lots of money at big problems doesn’t always work well.

Having said that, there are great examples of the VA working well. My dad loved his care from a Tennessee VA. I’m not completely anti-government when it comes to healthcare for every situation, but we should pause when this is the first and only solution people like to provide when discussing complex problems with healthcare.

If you have creative and good solutions about how to change the mental healthcare system for the better, I’d love to hear from you! I read and reply to every email. 🤔📝💡

But here’s the hard truth: Access isn’t the same as quality care.

Having an insurance card in your wallet doesn’t mean someone will actually help you. When systems promise help and don’t show up, stigma steps in.

And people stop reaching out. Because stigma doesn’t always shout.

Sometimes it just whispers: “You waited too long. Don’t bother now.”

What You Can Do Now

• Push for accountability. Support mental health parity laws that force insurers to cover care the same way they cover physical illness.

• Fund what’s working. Faith-based & Community clinics, school-based therapists, and mobile crisis teams help people before they hit rock bottom.

Thank you all for coming along this journey.

Until next Friday morning, come back…be here.

Keith