My sister attempted suicide for the second time today. I've been trying to find resources to support her (therapists, guides, tools for us and her friends to help her in the coming days, weeks, and years) - and I'm realizing just how difficult it is. In order to get good mental health care (and care of any kind, really), you have to fight for it and put a lot of work in to get it, not to mention the financial burden. How is this acceptable to us as a country? When she was released from the hospital after her first attempt, we didn't get any information from the doctors about how to help her. They forgot to tell her about the follow up appointment she was scheduled to have with her therapist. She presents herself as a very cheery, bubbly, and happy person, and even though she was in the hospital after poisoning herself and leaving a suicide note, they didn't seem to think she was much of a concern. I'm convinced she would have had better care and follow up if it was a broken arm. In both of her suicide notes, she talks about reaching out for help from the national resources and not getting it. How hard should someone have to work to stay alive when their own brain is working against them?