Mental Health Recovery Day Addresses Funding Cuts

James Carpenter said he remembers suffering from such severe
depression that he wouldn’t open his window blinds or leave his home. But now,
he’s a recovery specialist at Pioneer Center for Human Services, which hosted a
Mental Health Recovery Day Event Thursday at Emricson Park in Woodstock.

His progress is such that he will be off of disability benefits next month, he
said, speaking of his journey with mental illness in an interview during the
event.

“The delusions were so frightening, I was scared to leave my house,” said Carpenter, also a recipient of services at Pioneer. He was one of over 70 attendees at the event, geared to raise awareness of the negative effects of funding loss for social services, and what recovery, consumer empowerment, advocacy and mental illness stigmas entail.

He spoke of the frustrations of waiting for medications to take effect, group sessions, cognitive therapy, and the importance of his family and friends’ support.

“I felt like a guinea pig for doctors sometimes because of all the medications,” he said. “There were times when my family and friends stayed with me even when I told them I didn’t want them to…With counseling, even if you don’t think you’re getting better at the time, you’re still absorbing the positive messaging for when you’re ready to recover.”

Carpenter became an active participant in his recovery, he said, applying what he learned in group therapy and choosing to make decisions that focused on positive thinking. He stressed the need to be patient with medications, and with doctors who are working to find the best one for the condition.

With insights like that, he now helps others in their own journeys to recovery.

But some services like the ones that benefited Carpenter will be cut, anticipates Rick Mason, director of mental health and vocational services at Pioneer.

“Every year for the past three years, we’ve had cuts for mental health funding,” said Mason, one of nine speakers. “We’ve cut all the fat. Now we’re going to have to start cutting services for the unfunded (consumers).”

Without services, those afflicted with mental illness are unable to recover. That, in turn, affects the community through increased emergency room costs and increased court and criminal system costs, he said.

“These days it’s not just behavioral disorders and mental illness that end up in the criminal system,” he said. “It’s people trying to survive by shoplifting and other crimes.”

Pioneer serves people with not only severe mental illness, like schizophrenia and related disorders, but also anxiety, depression, eating disorders, substance abuse and homelessness. The organization sees between 130 and 150 continual clients on a daily basis through psychosocial rehabilitation, group homes, workshop skills training and other therapies.

Additional speakers were Lorraine Kopczynski, CEO of Pioneer Center for Human Services; Lou Bianchi, State’s Attorney of McHenry County; Scott Block, coordinator, McHenry County Mental Health Court; Astrid Larsen, Program Manager for the McHenry County Crisis Program; Julie Gibson, Program
Director, Thresholds McHenry County; Alen Belcher, Executive Director,
Transitional Living Services; Lori Nelson, CEO, Family Services and Community
Mental Health Center for McHenry County; Matt Kostecki, Director, McHenry
County PADS; and Linda Grieshaber, Program Menager, Transitional Living Home,
McHenry County PADS.

More information about Pioneer Center for Human Services is
available at www.pioneercenter.org.