Experiencing Higher Education as a Consumer

A couple of years ago, after attending a school for higher education, a junior college, I found out a couple of surprising things about myself, other people and what respect is. I began going to school to enhance my job capabilities in data entry and while taking two classes two times a week through a federal grant, I began to understand my disability and how enacted symptoms made me feel distant to other people and how these symptoms also caused me to set myself up for failure. I was scared! The numbers of people traveling from class to class overwhelmed me, and every day, I wondered how many people understood I have a mental illness. This was scornful thinking that I placed upon myself while I was being supported by the school and having a disability besides working. I worked as well outside of classes nearly 40 hours a week and my peers at my job gave me support as well as those at the college whom knew. As I was employed while attending classes, I began to feel stronger at this realization of not being alone.
“Supported education provides support to assist people with psychiatric disabilities to take advantage of skill, career, education and interpersonal development opportunities within a normalizing academic environment”.http://www.gmhcn.org/files/SUPPORTED-EDUCATION-white-paper-5-27-11-1.http://www.gmhcn.org/files/SUPPORTED-EDUCATION-white-paper-5-27-11-1.pdf pdf  With this statement, I have begun to realize after my first few attempts of attending college, that my being there, with a disability is commendable not only to myself yet by those who respect others who would give their all to excel not only in the world of education, yet because of being disabled and employed as well. I began to lose my fears of being at school and learning and began producing better grades as time went by. Having to take medications made this a great victory by going to school and going through recovery for addictions as well. This allowed me to experience education which I feel many consumers should make as an investment.
There are a great many people with a mental illness who are attending a secondary school of higher education, many pursuing degrees despite their illness. At one point in time, I felt I wouldn’t be able to maintain good grades through the two semesters, yet because I worked and keeping my conscious thoughts on the job as well, I believed for a short while that this was going to be my success. I overcame my fears again and began to associate with the instructors and relate to them what I was facing. I became aware that other students and instructors had some what the same predicament as I, working other jobs and having to deal with many students as well, even though the many of the students and instructors as well had no disabilities.
I began to feel stronger, knowing I was not alone despite having a mental illness and trying to prove to myself that I can to succeed in another way, that responsibility and respect are real attitudes which can be recognized in anyone who wishes to believe in themselves as well as others. For the many that are thinking of returning to school, I say, “go for it”, you are already a part of the race to live, live for the knowledge which takes you beyond that feeling of the entrapment you have been living in and believe you can succeed.
Written by Donald S.

Experiencing Violence the Mentally Ill

It is said, that the number of people with mental illness experience violence of some kind every year, which is a higher ratio than the rest of the population. Physical, sexual or domestic violence is much higher in those whom are mentally ill, than adults without disabilities; and this is stated by doctors in Liverpool England in an analysis of a study on the victimization of people with mental illness. The violence against those with disabilities is common, for those with learning disabilities or mental disabilities and others. As you would expect compassion towards adults with disabilities, the stigma of the public exist and is that they, (the public), fear violence from those with disabilities, especially those with severe mental illness. As you can see, those with disabilities have as much to fear as those that fear others of a mental illness. The stigmas exist, and trust is hard to find when you have experienced a violent crime whether you are disabled or not. As such there should be programs based in disabled settings, including training for staff members unaccustomed to violence. This is recommended for mental health center staff members as well, to reduce victimization, especially with the mental health client which may be verbal as well as physical victimization. Medical News: Mentally Ill Often Targets of Violence - in Psychiatry, General Psychiatry from MedPage Today Having had exposure to violence throughout their lifetime some mental health clients with a disability who are threatened with violence live in fear of becoming a victim, and here you would foresee that there is a percentage of violently linked crimes either linking those with a mental illness or being subjected to crimes they would not have committed. Written by Donald Sammons

Just Another Problem

I was sitting in my front room Saturday evening, thinking about how shallow my college assignment was. I wanted to quit, and just watch TV, stretch out somewhere and forget it. A thought suddenly came to mind, and I would have cried real tears if I hadn’t of thought a bit deeply about how I felt and what was expected of me.

I am a high school drop out with a GED and two semesters of college. I work, ¾ full time, rent an apartment and have a mental disability. Sounds strange, yet part of my disability is to quit, just give up when I don’t understand anything about what I am doing. At such a point, I began to fear; I was afraid and I knew I had to keep going to keep myself in check, without failure, without letting the symptoms of my disability overcome reality, without taking me away from my endeavors.

Backsliding, manic phases, hallucinations or episodes of fear; they all cause catastrophe in a person’s life. When there’s no one to examine the thoughts then and there, that’s when quiet time helps ease the conscious mind, not TV, not radio, drink or drug; just quiet time, to sort the problem out from reality and get in motion with life again.

In Recovery, we are given tools to utilize time to get in time with ourselves, ways to check reality and use the abc’s of psychotherapy to overcome our problems. Give yourself a chance it’s new to you, your thoughts don’t cause you to be alone to say you can’t overcome a part of your disability because you’ll find it’s your heart that wants to succeed.

Written by Donald Sammons