A key question for the presidential candidates: How will they address the nation’s mental health crisis?

“Forgive me, I tried.”

Those were the words my brother wrote in his suicide note just before taking his life this summer, losing a 21-year battle with schizophrenia — and America’s inadequate mental health care system.

Underpinning his decision was utter exhaustion from trying to navigate ineffective health care to find the holistic support he needed. He simply no longer had the fight needed to navigate a complex system that often prioritizes the wrong outcomes and is severely underresourced. My brother’s story highlights the urgent need for each of us to demand better resources for those living with mental illness.

The past 18 months offered our family a concentrated firsthand look into the challenges those with mental illness experience. My brother was hospitalized three times in the final year of his life across two states while experiencing debilitating fear and paranoia.

In the absence of unlimited financial means, the only path to the inpatient care he desperately needed required going to the emergency room, waiting for days for a bed to be available at a psychiatric hospital — assisted by fierce advocates at his side — and summoning a strength and perseverance I have yet seen matched.

Once admitted to the hospital, the resources available were inconsistent and moderate at best, not due to lack of health-care professionals who cared and tried, but because of a system that is not resourced appropriately.

Burned-out nurses and spread-thin psychiatrists did the best they could, but too often had to focus only on stabilizing to discharge because of limited insurance coverage and beds needed by others.

Each time my brother came home with a stack of discharge papers, we were astonished by how limited the follow-up was: biweekly or monthly medication management appointments, limited to no communication from caseworkers, wait lists for outpatient programs.

Our family worked the phones and spent endless hours researching for support to help him while he was an outpatient. It was devastating to realize how alone we were.

Schizophrenia is a severe mental health condition that disrupts several areas of the brain, affecting thinking abilities, memories, and senses. There are countless misperceptions of what schizophrenia is, including that people living with it are violent, scary, or lost. My brother was none of these things. What he struggled with was believing that he was a good person and that he was worthy of being a member of his community.

Mental illness is a misunderstood topic for many, even though it impacts one in five in the U.S. The mental health crisis throughout America is severe, but often evident in ways that are invisible to most of us.

Like being told there is a two-year wait list to get an appointment with a psychiatrist who will take Medicaid, or having others tell you they won’t take your case — even if you pay out of pocket — because it is just too complicated.

Other consequences are more dramatic, like someone suffering from mental illness being killed in their own home by first responders who were not trained appropriately to manage the situation.

Based on statistics alone, nearly every American knows someone living with mental illness, and poor mental health has increased significantly in the past decade among our young adults. The trends suggest this epidemic is not going to improve without significant intervention.

It was devastating to realize how alone we were.

As we barrel toward another election, we must get educated on the mental health policy positions for each candidate — from Donald Trump and Kamala Harris to candidates at state and local levels — and vote accordingly.

I ask you to consider: Which candidates will support funding community programs? Who will continue to fund Medicaid in a way that allows those who need mental health support to get it? Who will support building mental wellness into our school curricula to help identify those in need early? Who will support first responder training to ensure they are properly equipped to help someone in crisis?

Visit Mental Health America (mhanational.org/2024-voter-guide) and your local candidate websites today to learn more about their positions on mental health. If you do not see the information, call and demand it.

“Forgive me, I tried,” my brother wrote. I wish I’d had the chance to say, “Forgive us, we will try harder.”

Molly H. Wilson is a grieving sister and mental health advocate who resides in Blue Bell.