Goodbye, Ted Kennedy

    Also important is Ted Kennedy’s and his family’s influence on public discourse around the most taboo of health care issues: substance abuse and mental health problems. The openness with which the Kennedy family has faced their own vulnerabilities in this regard is deeply courageous. Some of the openness I am sure is born of the profound lack of privacy they have suffered for decades; they had no choice but to be open.  And so why not do it on their own terms, by the way letting people know that mental illness and substance abuse are both very common and and highly treatable. I was a social worker before I became a lawyer and dealing with the stigma around mental health issues and substance abuse is still half the struggle in providing treatment.

     These days I am a manager in a state psychiatric hospital for children. The children and families we serve are the ones Ted Kennedy has been fighting for all of his life: the poor, the sick and the almost completely bereft and dispossessed. Ted Kennedy’s work and life has touched me personally and professionally in so many ways. I will spend the rest of my life appreciating his legacy; and I will spend the next few days crying some more, and trying to explain to my darling sons why my eyes fill with silvery tears when his name comes up.

     From my family to yours, Ted Kennedy: may your name forever be blessed.