Ifeanyichukwu Diru
Candidate for Governor

Campaign website – www.tosein.com
Campaign email address – diru4oregon@tosein.com

Question One – People with lived experience of mental illness, addiction, alcoholism, and or trauma are under-represented in public office. What is your personal experience with these illnesses?

Permit me to begin by saying this; these politicians running for office of Governor have been in power for an average of ten years. They have become institutionalized and should not be given the opportunity to further destroy our healthcare and social infrastructure systems. After my separation from the U.S Army my first and second jobs were at the Oregon State Hospital (I was employee of the month for three months) and Salem Hospital psychiatric department. My personal experience with these illnesses is influenced by my daily struggles with my family, loved ones, and the public. How I see myself, my social circumstances which includes poverty, homelessness, healthcare, education, public safety, etc. All these personal and social interactions are key to gaining experience. Working closely with those with mental illness, commonly coupled with addiction while at the State Hospital, helped me understand the common bias those that suffer these diseases struggle with in day to day life. Building rapport and trust with the individual and showing them the average citizen simply needs exposure to get past the bias and misunderstanding. While my personal experience comes from working with these populations, I believe my representation of those with mental illness, addiction, alcoholism, and or trauma is integral.

Question Two – Oregon ranks at the bottom of states in a well-regarded national survey of access to public treatment services for mental illness, addiction and alcoholism. What can you in office do to change this?

We will approach treatment in a holistic manner:
• Provide early age Kindergarten at age three (This is key in detecting physical and mental disabilities).
• Provide SMART (Sensory, Motion, Auditory, Receptive, Therapy) Academy education in schools.
• TOSEIN (www.tosein.com) will provide affordable home ownership program through our unique financing system.
• Provide 100% free comprehensive healthcare.
• Build public treatment centers and hospitals in each county to treat mental illness, support families to care for members living with mental illness, addiction, alcoholism, trauma, etc.
• Create better opportunities for persons with mental illness, trauma, addiction, and alcoholism Oregonians to get State or union jobs.
• Provide free rehabilitation housing.
• Eradicate stigma and misinformation associated with mental illness, addiction and alcoholism treatment.

Question Three – In that same national survey, Oregon ranks at the top for prevalence of mental illness, addiction and alcoholism. What can you in office do to change this?

Answer:
• Early diagnosis and 100% free public treatment.
• Comprehensive rehabilitation which will include: treatment, long term housing, build support systems, education to eliminate stigma,

Question Four – A natural consequence of lack of access to treatments and high prevalence of mental illness, addiction and alcoholism is chronic homelessness. Why isn’t Portland’s strategy to reduce homelessness working and what could you do in office to change that?

Portland’s strategy is not working because the politicians are institutionalized and theoretical. As Governor, I will implement TOSEIN (www.tosein.com) to solve homelessness starting in Portland, Oregon. To solve homelessness, you need to give the people hope, build support systems, mediate not litigate, treat them with dignity, and let peer pressure influence them positively. Provide them with treatment, provide them with decent housing (not hotel accommodation), provide them with jobs, provide them with leadership, reward them with public accolade. .

Question Five – In 2015 the US DOJ found the Portland Police Bureau has a pattern and practice of harming people with mental illness. There’s little data to show that pattern and practice has changed, and no data to show other metro area police bureaus are any different. How would you in office engage with this problem?

Answer:
• As Governor, we will advocate for the retraining of members of the State Police and other police bureaus.
• We will hire more Troopers to provide better public safety standards.
• We will train a minimum of one hundred mental health advocates (with a minimum of an Associates degree) in each county as First Responders.