 And now, it is my privilege to introduce one of our newest advocates with a heart for children's mental health. Justice Luz Elena Chapa was elected to serve on the 4th Court of Appeals, effective January 1, 2013, and is currently the youngest sitting justice in the state of Texas. Justice Chapa attended St. Mary's University, where she received both her Bachelor of Arts in English and her law degree. In college and law school, she headed to Capitol Hill, where she interned for U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett and worked for the late U.S. Congressman Frank Tejeda. Justice Chapa is a Texas Bar Foundation fellow and a 2014 inductee to the San Antonio Women's Hall of Fame. Her civic activities include mentoring students at Healey Murphy Center, where she serves as vice president of the board and serving on the boards of the St. Mary's Law Alumni Association and the Center for Family Relations. She is a proud member of Impact San Antonio and is an official advocate for one in five minds. Justice Chapa has been married to Miguel for 11 years and they have two daughters. Please join me in welcoming Justice Luz Elena Chapa to the podium. I will not trip on purpose. Good morning. Meet Michael. Michael grew up on the Texas border in a middle-class family with college-educated parents, a sister, a twin brother, and a large extended family. As a child, he was funny, loving, respectful, and intellectually surpassed children his age. He was accepted into the gifted and talented program at the age of eight years old. His analytical and math skills were off the charts. Not only was he smart, he was athletic too. Making a home run was a piece of cake for Michael, winning first place at a swim meet, no sweat. And not only was Michael intelligent and athletic, he was tall and handsome, with dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes. There was no doubt that Michael was growing to grow up to be a heartthrob who excelled in AP classes all while winning state championships. Academic and athletic college scholarships would be in close reach. He indeed had a bright future. But then something changed in his behavior and his demeanor, and level of commitment to himself, his family, and his studies. Countless number of doctors told his mother that it was a phase. He was simply a rebellious teenager trying to test boundaries, stand firm, they told her. Doctors said it was common for boys growing up on the border to go across and partake in early age drinking and perhaps even smoke marijuana on occasion. No big deal, it's just a phase. Michael, he'll grow out of it. You see, there was nothing for Michael to grow out of. You can't choose to grow out of schizophrenia. It was a part of him during his teen years and will be a part of him for the rest of his life. Michael is now 30 years old and he is still the same loving, funny, respectful, and intellectually brilliant young man. He has a deep and strong faith in God, but he is tired of being sick. He is so tired of being sick. He is tired of not finding the right medication that will completely silence the voices that torment him. He is tired of not being able to finish his college education, although he has completed 60 hours. Not because he doesn't have the intellectual capability of doing so, but because he does not have the mental stability he so desperately desires. He is tired of not having a job and he's tired of being dependent on his 66-year-old mother for everything. He is tired of being someone a prisoner in his own home because there are no programs. There are no programs that benefit someone like him, none. There is no place for him to go without feeling the stigma that is associated with mental illness, especially someone who has schizophrenia. The one mental illness that I feel is on the bottom of the priority list. Ladies and gentlemen, I am so proud and honored to say that Michael is my 30-year-old brother. I love him dearly. I love him dearly, but there's not a day that goes by that I pray for him and that I wish for someone or something to cure his schizophrenia. Not because I'm ashamed, not because I'm embarrassed, but because I want him to have a life he can actually be happy about living. I carry an insurmountable amount of guilt. Why? Because I never asked him why he was drinking alcohol or smoking marijuana at the age of 14. To the contrary, I used to get mad at him and I judged him. I never asked why. Perhaps if I had asked, we would all have known that he was self-medicating because he didn't know how to handle or cope with what was going on in his head. He didn't know how to communicate it, but more importantly, us as a family. We didn't know anything else but to say that alcohol and drug abuse were not accepted in our home. We all stood firm. I have no medical background nor am I an expert. But ladies and gentlemen, what I do know is that my brother would be in a much different place today. Had he had an early diagnosis, had he been treated early and had he been accepted early on, I often wonder what would have happened if he had had this early diagnosis. This is why funding for children's mental health needs is so crucial and so vital to our community and not to mention across the state of Texas. I often wonder if he had indeed benefited at an early age rather than at the age of 18 or 19. Would his schizophrenia have manifested and spiraled out of control? Would an early diagnosis have kept him from self-medicating? Would it have kept him out of the court system? I wholeheartedly believe that yes, it would have made a huge difference because half of all chronic mental illness begins at age 14, three-quarter of illnesses by age 24. There are long delays before the first appearance of symptoms and beginning of treatment. Specifically here in Bear County, every year 1,300 children are admitted to a local ER for psychiatric reasons. Depression, suicidal thoughts, and bipolar disorder are far too common. 50% of children with a serious emotional disturbance drop out of high school, and children who go and treated are twice as likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. Thankfully, Michael hasn't used alcohol or marijuana in years because he knows how to cope now and we know how to communicate with him much better. Here are some all-too-real statistics provided by Clarity. In 2009, 171 Texas counties did not have a single psychiatrist. 102 counties did not have a psychologist. And 48 counties in our great state of Texas did not have a single licensed professional counselor. While studies show that approximately 14 child and adolescent psychiatrists per 100,000 youth are needed, Texas has less than half that number with approximately six child adolescent psychiatrists per 100,000 youth. Most of them are concentrated in urban areas. In San Antonio, the rate is 7.53. Yes, still much less than the needed number of psychiatrists, and generally it takes three to six months to see one. In 2010, only six child psychiatrists served a population of 814,578,000 in the border region. These numbers, they sound disturbing. They're disturbing to me, I hope they're disturbing to you. And much more can be done to improve the mental health care available to our community's children. Undoubtedly the conversation has begun and we are making progress, but I am cautiously optimistic because the progress is a slow one. More often than not, the issues of children mental health needs gets politicized. And those who truly need the help, they're no longer the focus. For those of you who have not visited Clarity's campus, I encourage you to do so. It is such a remarkable place. The reputable and caring physicians and staff create a sense of being at home. There's a sense of peace in knowing that the children who walk in and out of its doors are given the best quality care and attention that these children deserve. These children do deserve the best care. Clarity is one that gives children and their families hope of achieving a stable, normal, and happy life, because I think we all do want to achieve stability in these situations. Clarity is one that I wish was on every street corner in the state of Texas. Imagine if we had a Clarity campus in every big town that was close to people who could just drive and go to Clarity. There wasn't a three to six month waiting list and young children wouldn't start to self-medicate. Imagine the difference that could be. But early diagnosis and early treatment alone are not enough. Acceptance of the diagnosis is a must. Acceptance. Acceptance, embrace it. That's the biggest step ever because if you are affected by a family member who has a mental illness, you need to come forward and you need to partake in this conversation. It's just too important to ignore. More often than not, parents are in denial and they do not want to accept that their child might have a mental illness. Shame and embarrassment associated with mental illness is all too vivid and real. Society's lack of acceptance of children with mental illness keeps parents from coming forward. I get it. I do. It hits home. But I will tell you this. The more we share, the more we learn. Sharing our stories only benefits those who are confronted with the issue of mental illness. And let me be perfectly clear. There is nothing shameful or embarrassing about having a brother with schizophrenia. He did not choose to have this illness. It chose him. In my eyes, he is a normal 30-year-old male who happens to have schizophrenia just like someone happens to have cancer or happens to have diabetes or Down syndrome or autism. It's all one and the same for me. Naturally, my mother is Michael's number one advocate and she has never been in denial. She has tirelessly advocated for him throughout his entire life and continues to do so every single day. At times, I'm exhausted by watching her do it. Yes, she's 66 years old and Michael depends on her for everything. And I'm not sure what the future holds for Michael. He is fully insured, has been in and out of hospitals, and has been seen by leading medical professionals across the country. You would think by now he would have achieved mental stability. You would think by now he would have found the right medication. But there are no real answers and no medication exists that has stabilized his mental health without having serious side effects. And yet, my mother, she remains hopeful. Today is the first time I speak publicly about how my family has been affected. I have been thanked and told I was courageous about speaking here today, but let me set the record straight. I'm not the courageous one. Michael is the courageous one for giving me permission to do so. My mother is the brave and courageous one for giving me her blessing and for encouraging me to be here today. And this is all in an effort for other families to start coming forward, to start joining the conversation. We are all dealing with the same issues, regardless of where we come from, regardless of our stature, financial stability, economic situation at home. We are all doing this together and we now need to join forces. I ask that each of you open your hearts and your minds to the discussion that will take place here this morning. My hope is that you will leave here with a new sense of a personal mission, at a minimum, help lessen the stigma, one day at a time, one child at a time. Because we all know that it's going to take moving mountains to end the stigma altogether, but if we can do our part and lessen it a bit, I think we're headed in the right direction. How can you help lessen the stigma? It's quite simple. As Fred mentioned, go to the website, take the pledge. It's free. You have no commitment other than to take the pledge, and there's actually a little icon that you can share on your Facebook, if you're a member of Facebook. It will take you to your page and you will show your friends, your family, your co-workers that you have taken the pledge, and they hopefully will follow by your example. I encourage you to do it today. In fact, maybe we should have a little standout here and make everyone do it before they leave if you haven't done so already. I'm sure we can manage that. Valero has been so gracious in hosting, we can set up another table. But in any event, also, help me encourage others to stop using certain vocabulary. Certain words, they sting. Schizo is one of my words that makes my skin crawl. She's mental. He's psycho. Using the term bipolar in a derogatory way have no business in our everyday conversations. Help me set the example as I ask, and I know others will follow you. I extend my most heartfelt gratitude to everyone at Clarity Child Guidance Center and those associated with the One Invites Minds program for inviting me here to share some personal thoughts. I especially commend them in their efforts to create more public awareness about our community's children's mental health needs, not only in Bear County, but across the state of Texas. And more importantly, I congratulate them for creating and continuing a conversation to end the stigma that we all know strongly exist in our society in everyday lives. Congratulations on your campaign's one-year anniversary. I am extremely honored to be an official advocate for the One Invites Minds program. And I am wholeheartedly committed to your mission. I also thank Valero for hosting us today and for, this wasn't on my notes, for Methodist healthcare ministries for your support as well. And for Nowcast SA for streamlining. To each and every one of you who are here today who hasn't actually been affected by someone with a mental illness, I applaud you for coming, for showing your support because it will take people like you who haven't been personally affected by it to help lessen the stigma. The more we talk about it, the more we become comfortable with the conversation. Thank you for listening to Michael's story. I hope it inspires you to take the pledge to help end the stigma associated with mental illness. Thank you.