Progression

This is a story from a co-worker of mine at Evaluation and Research. We started down different paths. But ended up working for the same department.

For many years I have spent my life in the shadows; in schools, in my family's home, in the military. I was found beneath a tree one summer's day, incoherent. A counselor from a Mental Health Center showed concern. I spent a lot of time since that day answering questions about my situation, about my life. I was placed in a number of hospitals, not many, and slowly with group sessions, and many medication adjustments' I began to see beyond the veil of the illusions which plagued me.
Responsibility became my priority once I saw the light of right and wrong. I tried college, yet family illness, and death hampered my progress. There was still a lot to learn. I stopped and started and finally followed some advice of another case manager of MHCD, "if you want to change your life, change it for someone you care about, YOU!" I enrolled in a Vocational Rehabilitation school (2succeed), learning how to assemble computers, install Operating Systems, using Office programs. I again stepped out of the fog, this time with a smile. The system of Mental Health in Colorado, took my hand, and I learned not only to trust, yet to know through hope you can perservere if you can go beyond the fear.
This same Mental Health Center (MHCD) eventually hired me two years ago. I knew nothing before then. I am a consumer (client) still, with support on hand if feel it's going to rain, yet I am also an Evaluation Research assistant which gives me a reason to stand a little taller and believe in myself.
Sometimes I sit in the quiet of a tree, I as others have travelled a long way. The journey will never end. Faith is another's hand, hope is the heart, and trust is another's belief in self. This is what MHCD's Recovery program has given me.

By Donald Sammons