Praise & reader responses
Praise for Every Homeless Person Has a Mother
Words from authors, advocates, clinicians, policymakers, families, and readers.
Personal correspondence
Personal Notes & Acknowledgement
“Congratulations on your new book! I very much look forward to reading it and to raising awareness of it. I will work to support your book in other ways. Warm congratulations once more on this morally urgent work.”
Matthew DesmondAuthor of Evicted and Poverty, by America, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize
“Thank you for your kind, wise and generous words. It’s magical to know we have community across the miles, as family bound in love and hope! With love and gratitude.”
Gloria SteinemAuthor, Journalist, Feminist, and Activist
Professional voices
Mental Health Leaders, Clinicians & Policy Experts
“Of all the mistakes of psychiatry over this past century, the tendency to see families as part of the problem instead of part of the solution is one of the most egregious. Jacqueline Janssen makes a powerful case for correcting this error by ensuring that families are included in every part of the treatment process. This is an important and hopeful message that comes at a time when recovery is finally being understood as a goal for people with serious mental illness.”
Thomas R. Insel, MDAuthor of Healing, Former Director of NIMH
“Jacqueline Janssen’s book makes a compelling case that clinician-family collaboration is not an added burden, but a powerful, practical strategy for improving outcomes for people living with serious mental illness. The book grounds its insights with real-world examples, and shows how collaborative care can reduce expensive cycles of behavioral health crises, incarceration, and homelessness.”
Todd Schirmer, PhD, CCHPDirector of Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, County of Marin
“Every Homeless Person Has a Mother is a powerful and deeply human reminder that behind every individual experiencing homelessness is a family who loves them—and a system that too often fails them. For far too many, untreated severe mental illness is at the root of this crisis. This book brings both compassion and urgency to a conversation we can no longer afford to ignore.”
Ann Corcoran RN, MSNPresident and CEO, National Shattering Silence Coalition
“As a clinician working at the intersection of law enforcement, crisis response, and community mental health, I know firsthand how often families are left out of the very system meant to help their loved ones. Jacqueline Janssen names this gap with both unflinching honesty and remarkable grace.”
Cassandra OhrstromCIT Coordinator, Marin County
“As an instructor in crisis intervention, I often remind officers that the person they encounter is someone’s child, sibling, or loved one. Somewhere, there is likely a family who deeply cares about this person but feels helpless and uncertain how to help. This book provides compassion, understanding, and hope for those families and reminds them they are not alone.”
Joel FayPsychologist, Retired Police Officer and Emergency Responder
“HIPAA allows clinicians to share information to prevent harm, with someone who is in a position to prevent or lessen harm. Providers can receive information from families.”
Deb DemelloExecutive Director of NAMI Solano
“As a retired judge, I spent years working with people in crisis and conflict, who were embroiled in the criminal justice system when they belonged in treatment. Jacqueline Janssen’s Every Homeless Person Has a Mother is both deeply affecting and urgently important.”
Verna A. AdamsMarin County Superior Court Judge (Ret.)
Lived experience
Authors, Advocates & Family Voices
“Jacqueline Janssen has written an important resource that only could have been penned by a mother with lived experience helping her son. I wish this book had been available when my son had his first psychotic break. Despite the best intentions of professionals and programs, it is families that those who are sick and homeless must depend.”
Pete EarleyAuthor of CRAZY
“Jacqueline Janssen is a tireless advocate for families navigating mental illness and homelessness. In Every Homeless Person Has a Mother, she offers a deeply personal and heartfelt call to better recognize the role of family—especially mothers—in prevention, care, and recovery.”
Kevin F. AdlerAuthor of When We Walk By and Founder of Miracle Messages
“This is a deeply personal and compelling account of what it feels like to lose a child to mental illness and homelessness and to navigate a system that often leaves families on the outside. Janssen brings urgency and moral clarity to an overlooked dimension of the crisis: the role families can play in recovery when thoughtfully included.”
Joshua Coleman, Ph.D.Clinical Psychologist and Author of Rules of Estrangement
“Every Homeless Person Has a Mother transforms how we view homelessness by re-centering the narrative on family love and fierce advocacy. It is essential reading for policymakers, clinicians, family members, and especially the many mothers struggling to lessen the trauma of mental illness within their families.”
Marilyn L. GearyAuthor, Oral Historian, and Co-initiator of the Family Partnership Policy
“With a mom’s-eye view of the incoherent mental health treatment system, Jacqueline Janssen offers a guiding light for stakeholders ready to re-envision how the most vulnerable people with severe mental illness ought to be cared for.”
Jerri Niebaum ClarkAuthor of Gone Before Gone
“Jacqueline Janssen’s new book brings a number of emotions while reading. As she writes, we can all use our ‘Heartbreak, Fury and Will’ and of course ‘LOVE’ to benefit ones in their darkest times. Our world will be better the more people read and absorb this work.”
Pat & Deborah MilamParents of Matthew Samuel Milam
“Every Homeless Person Has a Mother speaks to something I’ve witnessed throughout my career in homeless services—that behind every person on the street is someone with unique experiences, personalities, traumas, quirks, and a family who loves them despite a society that has largely left them out.”
Logan McDonnellNonprofit Leader & Homelessness Prevention Advocate
“This book touched my heart in ways I didn’t expect. Every Homeless Person Has a Mother gives voice to people too often overlooked and reminds us that everyone matters to someone.”
Diana M. Grabowski HeldtFounder of Support for Family and Caregivers of Loved Ones with Schizophrenia
“Thank you for all the work and care you’ve put into this book. I appreciate how you weave little bits of your story in, along with others’ stories. It gives a reality to what’s happening and how our system works and doesn’t work—and could work better.”
Leslie MarksRetired Teacher and Author
Reader responses
Readers Respond
“You know of holding hate and pain in one hand and grace and beauty in the other and you do it so well. Thank you, Jacqueline, for writing about it.”
Laura LentzAuthor and Founder of Literati Academy
“This was riveting, insightful, and gut wrenching. Thank you for so eloquently framing such a consequential issue.”
Olivia Waller BetheaAuthor
“I feel so seen. I am howling in despair, grief, anger…but this gives me hope. Someone sees it. It’s not just in my mind or heart. It’s real.”
Jaz TaihreenAuthor
“This is so powerful. And yet as women, we still divide each other. Just as you say, we need to raise our voices together.”
Anne FrontAuthor
“I am heartbroken and enraged by this silencing of mothers. Thank you for putting this pain and dysfunctional system in the spotlight with such powerful writing.”
Jennifer WhiteAuthor
“Holy fucking shit! This is gutting! Mind blowing!”
Kate BallewAuthor
“I started your book…it’s fantastic. From the start, it’s so engaging and interesting. A unique perspective. I immediately wanted to start sending copies to people to read…and I’ve barely read it.”
Sola Morrissey
Recognition & honors
Award-Winning Work
- ShortlistedCreators of Justice Literary Award
- WinnerBay Area Independent Publishers Association Book Award
- WinnerIndie Book Award — LeaveLight
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