Within Our Reach

In Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis, Rosalynn Carter and coauthors Susan K. Golant and Kathryn E. Cade render an insightful, unsparing assessment of the state of mental health. Mrs. Carter has been deeply invested in this issue since her husband’s gubernatorial campaign when she saw firsthand the horrific, dehumanizing treatment of people with mental illnesses.

Using stories from her 35 years of advocacy to springboard into a discussion of the larger issues at hand, Carter crafts an intimate and powerful account of a subject previously shrouded in stigma and shadow, surveying the dimensions of an issue that has affected us all. She describes a system that continues to fail those in need, even though recent scientific breakthroughs with mental illness have potential to help most people lead more normal lives.

Within Our Reach is a seminal, searing, and ultimately optimistic look at how far we’ve come since Carter’s days on the campaign trail and how far we have yet to go.

Praise

"Rosalyn Carter humanly portrays the twenty-first century threshold we're standing on in the treatment of mental illness. IN her conversational approach to neuroscientific breakthroughs, research supporting early intervention and prevention, and the advance of the recovery movement, she illuminates the avenues that will help mainstream care and end the mental health crisis."—Mary Jane England, M.D., President, Regis College, former President, Washington Business Group on Health

 

"Rosalynn Carter and her coauthors have made a major contribution to better understanding of mental health in America today. With their compelling emphasis on the importance of sound science, the elimination of old stigma, and critical progress in public policy, they give us genuine cause for hope."—Former Senator Tom Daschle

 

"Within Our Reach challenges us not only to look at how far we have come in our knowledge of how to treat mental illnesses but how far we have yet to go to address the mental health crisis in our society—a crisis that touches everyone."—Dr. David Satcher, former U.S. Surgeon General

 

"As a freshman mental health advocate, Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis is now my primer on the state of mental health in our country and the monumental challenges we face. It's not only a clear-eyed, compassionate, deeply informed call-to-arms from a woman who has been in the health care trenches for forty years, it's also a really good read."—Glenn Close, actress

 

"One day, I predict that mental illnesses will be treated no differently than other physical illnesses. When that wonderful new era finally arrives, it will be in significant measure due to Rosalynn Carter."—Thom Johnson, former chairman and CEO of CNN

About the Author(s)

By Rosalynn Carter, Susan K. Golant and Kathryn E Cade

Rosalynn Carter, a driving force in the field of mental health throughout her public service career, is the best-selling author of First Lady from Plains. She lives in Plains, Georgia.

Susan K. Golant has written more than 30 books and is coauthor of the award-winning Helping Someone with Mental Illness (with Rosalynn Carter). She lives in Los Angeles.

Kathryn E. Cade serves as chair of the board of trustees of the Judge Baker Children’s Center in Boston. She lives in Massachusetts.