Issue 40
March 2013
Taakinng F
Flighht
A Briefing frrom Project GREAT
Geoorgia Recoveery-Based Edducational A
Approach too Treatment
A REC
COVERY STORY
Dave’s Sttory
In
n 1992, while working at a shipyard,
Dave foun
nd himself un
nexpectedly in
ncapacitated
by major depression. He
H was unablle to get out
of bed and
d unwilling to
o seek help on
n his own.
Fearing fo
or his life, hiss girlfriend peetitioned the
court and had him takeen to a mentall health crisis
unit for ev
valuation. Th
hings for Dave began to
turn aroun
nd after disch
harge when hee developed a
good relattionship with his outpatien
nt
psychiatriist. It took neearly a year, but
b working
closely together with his
h psychiatrisst, they
ultimately
y found a regiimen that allo
owed him to
come out of the “haze”” of his illnesss without
causing in
ntolerable sidee effects.
The
T next crucial step in Dav
ve’s recovery
y
was enrolling in a Day Treatment prrogram. He
did not kn
now it at the time, but his involvement
in the program would be
b instrumenttal not only
in his own
n recovery, bu
ut would facillitate him in
helping many
m
others en
nter recovery as well.
After goin
ng through the Day Treatm
ment program
as a consu
umer, Dave was
w hired to ru
un the dropin center at
a the mental health centerr where the
program was
w held. In this
t capacity, Dave was
responsible for schedulling activitiess for the otherr
consumerrs coming to the
t mental heaalth center.
However,, his peers did
d not want to visit
v the
drop-in ceenter, becausee it felt the sam
me as being
in the day
y treatment program: same location,
same facees. Dave’s eff
fforts to work with the
leadership
p of the mentaal health center to improvee
the drop-iin center weree unsuccessfu
ul. When the
leadership
p of the day trreatment prog
gram
changed, Dave was fireed. Howeverr, Dave was
not deterrred. And in sttark contrast to
t the man
once so im
mmobilized by depression that he could
d
not even get
g out of bed
d, Dave sprang
g into action.
He called the mental heealth division
n of the
Floriida Departmeent of Childreen and Familiees
and ttold them whhat had happenned. He askeed
how he could go about gettingg funding for a
“truee” drop-in cennter and then proceeded too
folloow through w
with their recom
mmendationss to
incorrporate, form
m a board of diirectors, deveelop a
propposal, and findd a sponsor annd a location..
Worrking tirelesslyy with his felllow peers, Daave’s
efforrts paid off: thhree months aafter submittiing
theirr proposal, theey received thheir first conttract,
and a once-vacannt office buildding was
transsformed into a drop-in cennter that is now
wa
hom
me away from home for Davve and 600 off his
peer s.
ARNING PO
OINTS
LEA
Dave’s sttory is a poweerful examplee of
the rrole Empowerrment and Suupport play in
recovvery. In his ddarkest hour, the support D
Dave
receiived from hiss girlfriend annd his psychiaatrist
empoowered him tto enter into rrecovery. Davve, in
turn,, was then ablle to do the saame for his peeers.
Davee’s story alsoo highlights tw
wo other pointts:
Firstt, is the fact thhat Recovery has stages. D
Dave
had iinsight into thhis when the ddirector of the day
treattment program
m did not. Daave recognizeed
that the drop-in ceenter needed to be more thhan a
gloriified day treattment program
m in order to truly
facillitate people’ss movement ffrom one stagge of
recovvery to the neext. While it cost him his jjob in
the sshort term, in the long term
m, he and his ppeers
gain ed so much m
more as a resuult of Dave’s
williingness to chaallenge the staatus quo. The
secoond point his sstory highlighhts is how
signiificant findingg a sense of P
Purpose is. Issn’t it
interresting how a passion for hhelping otherss can
proppel us to find sstrength within ourselves tthat
we ddidn’t know w
we had? In D
Dave’s case, thhis
resullted in a posittive impact onn hundreds off
livess.
Gina N
N. Duncan, M
M.D.
Departm
ment of Psychiaatry and Healthh Behavior, Geeorgia Health SSciences Universsity
997 St. Sebaastian Way, Auugusta, GA 300912, (706) 7221-0162