About the Sandy Pruett Project
Who is Sandy Pruett?
Sandy Pruett founded the Sandy Pruett Project in July 2025. “Sandy Pruett” is a pseudonymous advocate representing families affected by Severe Mental Illness (SMI). The name serves two purposes: it protects the founder’s identity and safety, and it provides a collective voice for families who wish to share their experiences without revealing their names.
Over time, Sandy Pruett has become more than a pseudonym. It has become a place where families can speak openly about experiences they often feel unable to discuss anywhere else.
Why use a pseudonym?
Sometimes our loved ones believe we, the people that genuinely love them with all our being, are the enemy. This creates genuine safety concerns that require anonymity for some of us.
But safety is only part of the story.
Every day, families affected by schizophrenia, bipolar disorder with psychosis, and other serious brain disorders make decisions about what they can and cannot say publicly.
It’s the CEO who worries how investors or clients will react if they learn about a child living with schizophrenia. It’s the nurse who spends her workday caring for patients while quietly navigating psychosis at home. It’s the teacher, the neighbor, the business owner, the pastor, the friend.
Many families remain silent because they fear judgment, gossip, professional consequences, or stigma directed toward themselves or the person they love.
That silence is not a side issue. It is one of the reasons the Sandy Pruett Project exists.
Stories are also posted without requiring anonymity. We are grateful for faith you put in us hosting your stories, and for joining voices to create meaningful change through legislative modernization.
What does the Sandy Pruett Project do?
The Sandy Pruett Project collects and publishes stories from families affected by Severe Mental Illness.
Some storytellers choose to publish under the name Sandy Pruett. Others choose to use their own names. Both choices are respected.
Together, these stories create a public record of what families experience when treatment is inaccessible, delayed, or denied. They document the real-world consequences of policy decisions, legal standards, discharge practices, workforce shortages, and gaps in care.
These stories are not collected for sympathy. They are collected because lawmakers, policymakers, journalists, and the public cannot solve problems they refuse to see.
Evidence Tags
In addition to personal stories, the Sandy Pruett Project builds a public record through Evidence Tags.
Evidence Tag stories document public cases involving untreated psychosis, denied or inaccessible care, and system failures that resulted in serious harm. They preserve facts, identify recurring patterns, and help build a clearer picture of where systems are failing.
What We Advocate For
Most people living with Severe Mental Illness are never violent.
We reject stigma and support the dignity, humanity, and rights of people living with brain disorders.
Anosognosia affects a large percentage of people experiencing psychosis. It is a neurological symptom that prevents a person from recognizing they are ill. When that happens, accessing treatment can become extraordinarily difficult.
Our advocacy focuses on improving access to care before lives are destroyed by untreated illness, homelessness, incarceration, victimization, self-harm, or preventable tragedy.
This is not a movement against people with Severe Mental Illness.
It is a movement for treatment, dignity, recovery, and access to care.
Your Story Matters
If you’ve been unable to get care for someone you love, there is a place for your voice here.
You may tell your story under your own name, or you may choose to remain anonymous.
Either way, your experience matters, and it deserves to be part of the public record.