There are two things that everyone seems to agree on: we have spent the last several years in a mental health crisis and the number of people experiencing homelessness has risen in Connecticut.

The disagreements come when trying to figure out how to address these issues. Unfortunately, we seem to be trapped in a cycle of trying to solve these collective societal concerns by doing more of the same thing and expecting different results. In many places around the country, policymakers have proposed increasing the use of involuntary psychiatric hospitalization and forced treatment with psychiatric drugs to “solve” both of these problems. Neither of these strategies address root systemic issues and are likely to exacerbate existing inequality.