Through the Fire: How People with Mental Illness Are Empowering Each Other

By Fredrick E. Vars

Mental health touches every aspect of life in the United States: from police encounters to prisons, and from hospitals to housing, those suffering from mental illness are overrepresented and underserved. In Through the Fire, leading expert in the field of mental health law Fredrick Vars reveals that some of the most promising reforms are coming from within the community of individuals living with mental illness.

In this personal and compassionate survey of mental health in America, readers meet the real-life advocates working on the frontlines of reform. Through their stories, and bolstered by his own experience inside the system after suffering a psychotic break, Vars reveals that hopeful solutions are already in action. Illustrating key reforms such as respite housing programs, unique peer-to-peer services, and Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), a highly effective but underused model for supporting people with serious mental health problems outside of institutions, Through the Fire shows that lasting change requires a paradigm shift: Mental illness is a disease, not a character flaw. Empowering people with mental illness to become effective advocates and mentors for themselves and others may be the spark to fuel much-needed change.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1493087835
• ISBN13: 9781493087839
• Release Date: May 2026
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 224 Pages