Choosing some level of responsibility for my cousin

I have a cousin who is struggling with behavioral/mental health issues. We had been off and on close over the years. Seemingly, I am the only person in this family who cares enough to make an effort. Not that it's surprising.

Given our limited interactions I can't say for sure what her life is really like. That scares me. I am going to call up her doctor and ask him to be blunt with me. She's given them permission to speak with me. I've never done this before. I've always stayed away from the doctors and their opinions. So often they've only served to make my kith feel worse.

But something draws me to her. Whatever you want to call her problems she is so real. I often feel people who claim to not have trauma or mental health "illness" are not the real ones. And then there are those that have mental "illness" but don't know it. Those are the hardest to deal with.

I hate the phrase "mental illness", hence the quotes. I should really find a different symbol for it. For, the path we were led down was often the path we had to go down given our circumstance, support, and knowledge. And there comes a time where that path is no longer helping us survive. Either by changes in circumstance, support, or knowledge... Bleh I haven't thought about it enough.

I've seen enough of these institutions to know how they work, what they offer, and how systemically they don't really make long term difference. I have no concrete valuable ideas on how to fix it but I'll get fumed about it pretty quick.

I hope I can help her. She deserves it.