Justice for Destiny: Mental Health Reform, Family Rights & Patient Protection

My daughter, Destiny, was a bright, athletic, independent young woman with a heart for serving others. She taught swimming to children, including children with special needs, attended school, maintained her own residence, and had dreams and goals for her future.

Like many young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, Destiny experienced significant emotional, social, and financial stress. The isolation, uncertainty, and disruption of normal life created challenges that impacted countless young adults across our nation.

During this vulnerable season, Destiny became involved with unhealthy influences and eventually experienced what appeared to be a severe psychiatric crisis. As her mother, I sought help for her through the mental health system, believing she would receive the care and protection she needed.

Instead, our family entered a journey that exposed major gaps within the mental health system.

After bringing Destiny to a hospital for help, she was placed on a psychiatric hold and transferred to another facility without our knowledge while I briefly stepped away. Because she was legally an adult, our family quickly learned how little information hospitals were permitted to share with us, despite our desire to advocate for her safety and well-being.

Over the following years, Destiny was transferred through multiple psychiatric facilities and treatment programs. During this time:

• She experienced adverse reactions to psychiatric medications, including an allergic reaction to Haldol.

• She was prescribed numerous medications, eventually totaling more than 38 different psychiatric medications throughout her treatment journey.

• She was hospitalized repeatedly, spending time in more than 10 psychiatric facilities, with some stays lasting several months.

• She was sexually assaulted by another patient while hospitalized due to alleged staffing shortages and inadequate supervision.

• She was discharged into homelessness despite having no history of homelessness prior to her psychiatric crisis.

• While vulnerable and without adequate support, she encountered individuals who introduced her to street drugs, exploitation, and human trafficking.

• She became increasingly disconnected from family support while cycling through hospitals, treatment centers, homelessness, and unstable living situations.

• Throughout her journey, our family struggled to participate in treatment decisions because of legal and privacy barriers affecting adult patients.

We want to make it clear that this petition is not intended as criticism of every psychiatrist, therapist, nurse, social worker, hospital employee, or mental health professional who crossed Destiny’s path. Throughout these difficult years, there were compassionate doctors, counselors, nurses, case workers, and staff members who genuinely tried to help, offered guidance to our family, listened to our concerns, and treated Destiny with dignity.

Many professionals themselves acknowledged the complexity of her situation. After years of psychiatric hospitalizations, repeated trauma, exploitation, homelessness, medication changes, and victimization, it has become increasingly difficult to determine where one diagnosis ends and another begins. Some professionals have questioned whether Destiny may have been misdiagnosed early in her journey, while others have suggested that underlying developmental differences, including possible autism spectrum traits present since childhood, may have gone unrecognized. We are not medical professionals, and we cannot make those determinations. We simply know that the years of trauma she has endured have complicated every aspect of understanding her condition and providing effective treatment.

Destiny is not a statistic.

She is a loving daughter, stepdaughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin, aunt, and friend. She is deeply loved by her family. She is compassionate, gifted, athletic, and dedicated to helping children. Before her mental health crisis, she spent her time teaching swimming lessons, encouraging young people, and building a future for herself.

This journey has impacted an entire family.

Her biological father and stepmother in California have fought to help her navigate this crisis. Here in Texas, I, her mother, along with my husband, her grandparents, sisters, extended family members, and countless loved ones have remained committed to supporting her recovery. Church families in both Texas and California have prayed, counseled, encouraged, and stood beside us throughout this journey.

The overwhelming response from those who know Destiny has been the same: shock, heartbreak, and concern. Most people who knew her growing up would never have imagined this path for her life. They remember the young woman who loved children, worked hard, enjoyed athletics, cared for others, and carried hopes for her future.

Like many families navigating serious mental illness, we have watched our loved one move from crisis to crisis while trying to understand a fragmented system that often leaves families feeling powerless.

Yet through it all, we continue to see her fight for understanding .

Despite years of challenges, we hear her determination through phone calls. We celebrate every moment of clarity, every conversation, every expression of hope, and every sign that the young woman we know and love is still fighting to overcome unimaginable circumstances. I have been blessed to visit her, look into her eyes, and remind her that she is not forgotten and never abandoned.

Today, Destiny remains involved in the criminal justice system while awaiting competency restoration services and treatment. She has been incarcerated since November without sentencing as her mental health condition continues to be evaluated. Our family continues to advocate for her healing, restoration, treatment, and eventual reunification with those who love her.

We are asking lawmakers, mental health organizations, hospitals, and communities to address critical issues affecting vulnerable adults and their families:

• Improve communication between treatment providers and families during psychiatric emergencies.

• Strengthen patient safety protections within psychiatric facilities.

• Prevent discharging vulnerable individuals into homelessness.

• Expand competency restoration programs and mental health diversion options.

• Increase oversight regarding psychiatric medication management.

• Improve continuity of care between hospitals, housing programs, and community services.

• Expand trauma-informed treatment and recovery programs.

• Support families who are trying to help adult loved ones experiencing severe mental illness.

Mental illness should not become a pathway to homelessness, exploitation, trafficking, victimization, incarceration, and family separation.

Destiny’s story represents countless families across America who are struggling to navigate broken systems while trying to save someone they love.

We believe every patient deserves dignity.

Every family deserves a voice.

Every vulnerable adult deserves protection.

And every person experiencing mental illness deserves a genuine opportunity for recovery, restoration, and hope.

Most of all, we want Destiny and others facing similar battles to know that they are not forgotten. There are families praying, believing, advocating, and waiting for the day restoration becomes reality.

Please sign and share this petition to help bring awareness, accountability, and meaningful reform to our mental health care system.

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” — Galatians 6:2