Rupi Legha MD

04/15/2026

The profession I trained in has unchecked power over people’s lives. I wrote a bill of rights to push back. Read it. Share it. Link in bio. 🩷

04/15/2026

The profession I trained in has unchecked power over people’s lives. I wrote a bill of rights to push back. Read it. Share it. Link in bio. 🩷

04/15/2026

The profession I trained in has unchecked power over people’s lives. I wrote a bill of rights to push back. Read it. Share it. Link in bio. 🩷

04/15/2026

04/14/2026

Your child isn’t the problem. Their school report might be.

Biased school records shape diagnoses — and most families don’t know they have the right to push back.

My latest in breaks down what’s happening and what you can do about it.
Save this. Share it with every parent you know.

04/13/2026

Children in and exiting foster care are handed Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Major Depressive Disorder. Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Reactive Attachment Disorder.

Spelled out, the weight becomes clear. And so does the question providers rarely ask: what happened to this child?

I have sat across from so many of these kids in county clinics. The files thick with labels. The parents exhausted and blamed. And not one provider asking how the system that took this child from their family might be the source of everything they were seeing.

Family policing doesn’t just separate families. It wounds children in ways that get called disorders. And then medicine — the DSM, clinical practice guidelines, providers who think they’re helping — signs off on the damage without ever naming who caused it.

That is not neutral. That is complicity.

The scholarship exists. The argument is made. Now it’s time for the field to answer.

🔗 Links in bio.

04/07/2026

To healthcare providers: what do we owe families?

We took an oath to do no harm.
And yet, “mandated reporting” can set harm in motion—especially for the families most targeted by these systems.

✨ Mandated Supporting is a call to practice differently:
• Tell the truth
• Partner with families
• Protect—not punish

Deep gratitude to for originating this framework and leading the way. It is desperately needed in the health professions.

This is about aligning our care with our oath.

🔗 rupileghamd.substack.com

Image is from wikimedia commons and is in the public domain.

04/03/2026

Of course it is. 1 in 2 Black children will be reported to CPS before they turn 18.

Not because abuse is more common in their homes. Because poverty, food insecurity, and housing instability — conditions created by racism — get treated as neglect.

Most families don’t learn how this system works until they’re already in it.

This piece is for you. Read it before that happens.
Swipe for what you need to know — and what you can do.

📌 Save this and share it with your provider. Their response will tell you something important about the care you’re receiving.

And if you’re a provider — stay tuned. My next piece on Substack is written for you: what it actually looks like to protect families instead of police them.

03/31/2026

What if healing didn’t require a label, a pill, or a locked door? That’s the question Soteria House Las Cruces answers every day. Some psychiatrists will feel threatened that experts outside of the profession will be leading this treatment. But they don’t get to own “serious mental illness.” Recovery belongs to the people.

Keris Myrick is asking the right questions on Unapologetically Black Unicorns. I got to join Keris, , qnd Megann O’ Leary for a conversation last week. I’m still thinking about it.

Listen here: https://linktr.ee/UnapologeticallyBlackUnicorns?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=f83d3f4b-5fb3-4ed5-9466-cae64337f51e

03/25/2026

The question I get asked most by providers is: what do I do when my patient is in crisis?

It feels like there are no options. Like 911 or the ER is just… what you do. Business as usual.

But business as usual is harming families.

My new Substack piece breaks down what providers actually owe families before that call is made — and what real crisis care can look like.

🔗 rupileghamd.substack.com

03/25/2026

A new piece is live on Psychology Today — and this one is for the parents.

When your child is in crisis, you deserve more than “call 911 or go to the ER.” You deserve to know the risks. You deserve a real plan. And your child deserves care that doesn’t put them in more danger.

Ryan Gainer was 15, autistic, and in crisis when his family called for help. He was killed in his own backyard.

He is not an anomaly.

This piece breaks down what the standard advice gets wrong — and what to ask your provider before a crisis ever happens.