On July 4, 2025, I suffered a sudden and severe mental health crisis triggered by an adverse reaction to an over-the-counter cold medicine. I was hallucinating, panicked, and rushed to the ER with a blood pressure of 190/100. I was discharged after six hours — with no psychiatric consult, no safety net, and no follow-up.

What came next nearly killed me.

For three days, I couldn’t eat or drink. I begged for help. I reached out to my provider. I saw a psychiatrist. I told them the medications they prescribed previously caused serious side effects. I asked for lithium, a drug that had worked before.

The response?

“Your next appointment is in three weeks.”

I was in full psychological collapse — and told to wait.

I’m not alone. This is happening across North Carolina and the United States every day. People in active crisis are being told to survive on their own until the system can “get to them.” Some don’t survive.

We demand change — now.

We call on North Carolina legislators and the NC Department of Health and Human Services to:

• Mandate emergency triage protocols for psychiatric care.
• Patients in crisis must be prioritized within 24–72 hours — not weeks.
• Fund and expand bridge-care programs.
• Patients should receive short-term prescriptions or crisis stabilization while awaiting follow-up.
• Hold providers accountable for medication safety.

When patients report severe side effects, they must be heard and alternative treatments offered.

• Train employers on trauma-informed response.

Employees experiencing mental health emergencies need compassion, not productivity pressure.

•  Support caregivers.

Partners, family members, and friends who hold us up through crisis deserve resources and recognition.

I’m not asking for sympathy.

I’m demanding action.

I survived the waitlist — but just barely. Let’s make sure no one else has to.

Please sign and share this petition. Together, we can push North Carolina to prioritize mental health care with the urgency it deserves.

To Secretary Xavier Becerra and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services:

I urge you to champion and enact urgent reforms to how mental health crises are handled in emergency and outpatient settings. This includes:

• Ensuring ER doctors and psychiatrists are trained to take psychiatric emergencies seriously, even when symptoms appear “invisible.”

• Mandating a national fast-track system for mental health crisis evaluations and treatment (not weeks-long waits).

• Creating safeguards to prevent patients from being re-prescribed medications that previously caused harm.

• Expanding funding and staffing for immediate-access mental health clinics nationwide.

My personal experience is just one of thousands. We need leadership now — not next session, not next year. Lives are being lost to delay, dismissal, and disconnection.

— Christopher Hiser

Clayton, NC