Welcome to the launch of my new blog, “Silent Voices.” I have been interested in people with severe mental illness throughout my professional career, from before the time I was commissioner of mental health for Vermont and Massachusetts through my 17 years as chief of psychiatry at San Francisco General Hospital and professor of clinical psychiatry at UCSF. The publication of my book, Silent Voices: People with Mental Disorders on the Street, which examines the phenomenon of mental illness on our streets today, has given me the impetus to also start this interactive blog. It is my hope that it will stimulate conversations about important mental health policy issues with an emphasis on those that relate to people who struggle with severe mental illness and sometimes homelessness. I look forward to hearing from you.