Mental health advocate speaks on how to help people experiencing psychosis

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – One mental health advocate is emphasizing the importance of treatment after the death of a Cedar Rapids man with schizophrenia.

Police arrested his three brothers in connection to the starvation and dehydration death of 18-year-old Ezekiel Baseme.

Police charged brothers Christian, Pierre, and Azane Baseme with involuntary manslaughter.

Their brother died in November, days after court filings show they admitted to tying him to a bed to prevent himself from hurting himself or others.

“Psychosis is when someone has lost touch with reality,” said Leslie Carpenter, Iowa Mental Health Advocacy co-founder.

Leslie Carpenter is a longtime mental health advocate, her adult son has schizophrenia.

She said addressing mental illness is especially challenging because many people won’t know much about it unless somebody close is experiencing it.

“Untreated psychosis causes more brain damage. It makes the illness itself more treatment resistant. It’s harder to bring the person back out of psychosis the longer they’re in a psychosis,” Carpenter said.

A search warrant indicates Ezekiel Baseme was in a schizophrenic episode, hallucinating and hearing voices for weeks before his death.

Baseme’s family tied him to a mattress after he assaulted one of his brothers, and he remained in psychosis.

While it’s not clear why Baseme’s family waited so long to contact police, Carpenter said stigmas and fear surrounding mental illness push people away from seeking help for themselves and others.

“Unfortunately there are sometimes some cultures where they don’t recognize what mental illness is. They might actually think of the person as possessed, and they might have no idea how to keep the person safe and how to keep other people safe at the same time,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter said though mental illness is invisible and can appear in a number of different ways, she emphasizes treating mental illness should be handled with urgency.

“If we were to approach these people in psychosis the same we would as a stroke patient, we would get them in for immediate medical care, we would keep them in treatment for as long as necessary, and then we would provide a much more robust rehab type approach to keep them in treatment over the long term,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter said if you or someone around you is experiencing a mental health crisis, calling 9-8-8, or calling 9-1-1 and asking for a crisis intervention team trained officer are good first steps.

She also said calling various mental health organizations and asking them for guidance is also a good step.

Carpenter points to the following resources in Eastern Iowa: the Linn County National Alliance on Mental Illness, Treatment Advocacy Center, GuideLink Center, Mental Health Access Center, and the Iowa Office of Recovery Services.

Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.