Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Determination and the Mentally Ill

There are determinations which exist for the mentally ill, by the court systems and by many mental health systems themselves. Yet these court actions (determinations) and mental health rules governing medications and mental health holds are not what I am implying when it comes to anyone who is “mentally ill”. What I am inferring to is the intention and purposes of the consumer (“client”) and their limits to decide and change their lives themselves.

At the Mental Health Center of Denver *(MHCD), the staff, doctors, clinicians and nurses believe it’s their “mission” to “enrich the lives and minds of consumers (“clients”) through focusing on the strengths of their clients and their recovery”. I am one of many who sought help through the will of others to overcome the barriers of drug addiction, drunkenness and distrust, of which I had lived for many years. Why did I change to become a more tolerant person when I could have lived “free” of responsibility and without any caring attitude whatsoever? I was determined to get away from the bonds of complaint and destitution, and rebuild the foundation of belief and wonder, instead of living in a world of great disorder.

Recovery and determination go hand in hand. In Recovery you reach out to rebuild yourself; to become stable in the throes of mental illness. You seek treatment and you learn to grow with the helping hands and minds of others who care. With determination, you are intent upon closing the doors of ignorance and you want to change the pain into something as real as a smile that others can respect. Its hard work, what work is not demanding as you learn to demand from yourself so that you don’t live in fear, live off a placebo, which marks you other than a genuine person.

Determination is controlling a part of your own life, so that the lives of others become a part of the heart beat that once stuttered within. There is no hopelessness with determination because you want to win, and leave ignorance in the mist that once covered your mind.

Written by: Donald Sammons

November 14, 2010

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