Why People Don’t Trust the Mental Health System

From someone who's been there

Working alongside therapists and providers who speak about humans in the most dehumanizing ways is exhausting. What’s even more frustrating is how quick they are to defend themselves when they’re called out. I’ve spent years in rooms and systems where the people who are supposed to care are anything but trauma-informed. I’ve worked beside folks who throw around stigmatizing language with ease, and these are the same people entrusted to offer care. It’s painful to witness. The way they speak about the people they serve is not just unkind, it’s dehumanizing.

As someone with lived experience, as someone who has sat on the other side of the chart, I carry this weight heavily. I’ve been the one navigating systems that treat people like problems to solve instead of humans in pain. And now, being in the position of working alongside these same systems, I see just how deeply the harm runs.

I am tired. Tired of being in meetings where people laugh off someone’s struggle, or label them with “cluster B traits” as a way to avoid doing the deeper, messier work of understanding. Tired of hearing “high risk” thrown around without any real context or support. Tired of the threats that sound like care but land as punishment. “If they don’t comply, we’ll send them to a higher level of care.” What does that even mean when the care offered is already rooted in control and coercion?

Bias does not need to be spoken out loud. It shows up in tone, in decisions, in who is listened to and who is dismissed. It shows up in the ways providers talk about people when they think no one is listening. And when they are challenged, the response is usually something like, “Well we would never say this in front of the patient.” But my response will always be the same: "We should not be saying it at all."

When I speak up, it is not to shame. It is because I care. It is because I have been that person sitting across from someone who judged me before I even opened my mouth. I have been the person trying to survive while being labeled “difficult” or “noncompliant.” I have been harmed by systems that claimed to help.

And I know I’m not alone.

People do not trust the mental health system because it has not earned that trust. Trust is built with respect, with humility, with care that centers the person and not the diagnosis. Trust is built when we stop pretending we know best and start listening. Really listening.

As a peer supporter, I believe in care rooted in connection. I believe in walking alongside someone, not standing above them. I believe in doing better because I know better is possible.

And if we really want to build systems that support healing, then the way we speak, the way we act, and the way we show up for people has to change.

It starts with how we talk about each other when we think no one is watching.