On this episode of Solutions News, Barry Schoer is interviewed, Executive Director of the Sanctuary Centers, and a lifelong advocate for the humane and effective treatment of those who live with addiction and mental health issues. The interview explores the cultural implications of the current addiction crises in the United States and the world.  Discussed also is how community based supportive living situations are a more effective and humane solution for the seriously ill rather than abandoning them to fend for themselves on the street or in the prison system. The show ends with a look at the crisis for connection that affects much of the world, and how we each might find our way towards human connection.

Barry Schoer worked as an undergraduate to help change the laws in New York State so that individuals with addiction were placed in treatment rather than in jails and prisons. During his graduate program, Barry interned at Bellevue Hospital, where he was trained and then hired as a licensed psychiatric technician. It was Bellevue Hospital where Barry observed everything he believed was wrong with mental health treatment. This included inhumane conditions, excessive use of electroconvulsive therapy, the overuse of psychotropic medications without regard for long-term side effects, and the complete lack of any type of individual or group therapeutic engagement.

Rinaldo S. Brutoco introduces Barry and the interview begins at 14 min mark.