Mad Moms: "I am Michele Reiner"

On January 12th, 2026, more than 50 Arizona Mad Moms appeared at the Arizona state capitol to launch the #IamMicheleReiner campaign and march silently in Black Veils. In their press briefing, they asked lawmakers to support legislation for Serious Mental Illness, including a bill to improve clozapine access. Their activities were covered by almost every local news outlet, with a feature story in The Arizona Republic by Stephanie Innes.

To watch the Arizona Central video news clip, click HERE.

The Arizona Republic Article is reprinted below with permission for The Angry Moms.

Marchers wearing black veils marched silently around the Capitol on the Arizona Legislature's opening day, demanding better care for people with serious mental illness.

About 50 advocates, many of them mothers of adult children with debilitating illnesses such as schizophrenia and severe bipolar disorder, carried signs with slogans that included "Stop Mom Dumping," "We are not OK" and "Untreated SMI Hurts Families." SMI stands for serious mental illness.

The march was organized by a group called the Arizona Mad Moms, who say state legislators and Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs need to pay more attention to the high costs of failing to treat Arizona's SMI population. They say they are working with several legislators to introduce bills this session with an aim to improve the state's mental health system.

The Mad Moms want, among other things, more continuity of treatment while people with SMI are in jail; better access to the anti-psychotic drug Clozapine; and more mental health workforce training about psychosis, which is a symptom that may stem from mental illness, where someone loses touch with reality and may have hallucinations, delusions and distorted perceptions. One of the Mad Moms' ongoing issues is with what they say is an inadequate number of involuntary treatment beds in Arizona.

The Mad Moms have in recent years faced controversy with some of their platforms because involuntary treatment raises issues of individual civil liberties, due process and concerns over unjustified confinement.

Marchers: 'I am Michele Reiner'

When untreated, people with SMI can have aggressive, dangerous and violent symptoms, Mad Moms co-founder Rachel Streiff said prior to the Jan. 12 morning march. The result is higher taxpayer costs for keeping people with mental illnesses in jails and prisons, and higher populations of people with SMI living on the streets, she said.

One sign carried by a handful of marchers said, "I am Michele Reiner," referring to Michele Singer Reiner, the wife of Hollywood director and actor Rob Reiner. The Reiners were found dead from stab wounds Dec. 14 in their Los Angeles home. Their son, 32-year-old Nick Reiner, who had a history of severe addiction, is facing murder charges for their deaths. The Los Angeles Times, citing two anonymous sources, reported that Nick Reiner had been prescribed medication for schizophrenia at some point before his parents were killed.

The Reiners didn't lose their lives because of a spoiled child, or bad parenting, but "because of a young man who is profoundly sick," Streiff said. Incidents of adult children with serious mental illness hurting their loved ones, often their mothers, are commonplace and preventable, she said.

The Arizona Mad Moms, a group of about 600 people, is comprised of family members whose loved ones have SMI. Several of those who marched Jan. 12 had personal experiences of being afraid of their adult children with SMI, and some, like Phoenix resident Phyllis Rodriguez, had been seriously injured by them.

Rodriguez, who said she was stabbed by her son in May 2021, wants more funding for mental health treatment so that the Arizona courts don't have to be mental health providers. Rodriguez also wants better training for the mental health workforce and said there needs to be awareness that substance abuse is so often "in the picture" when someone is seriously mentally ill.

Thousands of Arizonans care for children who 'should be in hospitals'

One recurring problem that Rodriguez and others spoke about is that when someone with SMI is getting court-ordered treatment in Arizona there's not enough accountability. Too often, people on court-ordered treatment are not taking their medications, are missing their appointments and ultimately they decompensate, Rodriguez and others said. A lack of available treatment beds is another big problem, Streiff said.

"There are tens of thousands of us across the country, and thousands of us in Arizona, who are taking care of children who should be in hospitals," she said. "The mothers behind me are playing, doctor, nurse and security guard. They are managing poorly treated, untreated, seriously mentally ill people ... When will caregivers, when will mothers like Michele Reiner be heard?"

The Arizona Legislature in 2025 appropriated $5 million to pay for what it called "secure residential behavioral health facilities" for involuntary treatment. It's unclear how many beds it will fund or when they will be available, though mental health advocates say the beds are sorely needed for people who need a locked facility, but are either not sick enough or are unable to get a bed at the Arizona State Hospital, which is the highest level, "last resort" care for people with severe mental illnesses.

An Oct. 15, 2025, memo to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and legislative leaders from Arizona Medicaid agency Director Virginia Rountree said the agency was developing an implementation plan for the secure residential behavioral health beds and would put out a bid for a contractor to complete the project by May 1, 2026.

People with SMI at risk of overdoses, homelessness and early death

When a person with SMI decompensates, the result is not always violence. But there are other serious consequences, like substance use disorder, drug overdoses, homelessness and early death, marcher Helen Bootsma said.

Bootsma's son, Larry Bootsma, a passionate musician who played saxophone and guitar, died at a Phoenix bus stop near his outpatient mental health clinic on Sept. 24, 2025, at the age of 47. The cause of death was methamphetamine and fentanyl toxicity. Larry Bootsma, who had schizoaffective disorder and had struggled with mental health and substance use issues for years, had recently been released from a psychiatric hospitalization at the time of his death.

His outpatient clinic team allowed Larry to live on the streets without adequate support or treatment, his mother said.

Approximately 1.3 million Arizonans have a mental health condition, but only a subset has a serious mental illness like severe bipolar disorder, major depression with psychotic features, schizoaffective disorder and schizophrenia. The Treatment Advocacy Center estimates 195,320 Arizonans fall into that category. Schizophrenia spectrum disorders affect about 1% of the population, which in Arizona is approximately 74,000 people.

People with serious mental illness, often shortened to SMI, have emotional or behavioral functioning that is so impaired that it substantially interferes with their capacity to remain in the community without supportive treatment or services of a long-term or indefinite duration. As of October 2025, about 63,500 Arizonans had a state designation of SMI, according to data from Arizona's Medicaid program.

Reach health-care reporter Stephanie Innes at stephanie.innes@usatodayco.com or follow her on X: @stephanieinnes or on Bluesky: @stephanieinnes.bsky.social.

Wednesday, January 14th, 2026 Issue of The Arizona Republic Newspaper