Pubdate: Sun, 09 May 1999
Source: Augusta Chronicle, The (GA)
Contact:  http://www.augustachronicle.com/
Author: Carrol Foster
Note: The author is the director of quality management with the Community
Mental Health Center of East Center in Georgia.

AGENCY WORKS TO FULFILL A MOTHER'S DAY WISH

"My daughter is now 17 and I want the opportunity to live together with her
again, to be the mom she wants me to be."

This is the Mother's Day wish of Susan B. (a pseudonym used to relate the
true story of a mental health  consumer) an articulate, 33-year-old, single
mother who suffers from chronic, severe depression. She has spent more than
1,000 days -- that's three years of her life -- as an inpatient at Georgia
Regional Hospital at Augusta from paralyzing depression and polysubstance
abuse. Her escape anesthetic of choice was crack cocaine, which quickly
escalated into a $600 to $800 a day habit. Free floating through various
crack houses, she contracted HIV from intravenous drug use.

Prior to and intermittently during her severe depressive episodes and drug
descent, Susan worked in fast-food restaurants and a for a landscaping
business.

Chronic depression is a common disease affecting one is six adults. The
social cost to family members and communities cannot be tallied or predicted.

At best, it can be successfully managed. Susan's story, dire as it is, has a
new, more positive chapter being written.

She is living in her own apartment where she is supported by her intensive
case manager and her personal support provider. Susan hopes to return to
employment in the near future. She says that she would prefer a job working
out of doors in landscaping.

A collaborative effort by the Community Mental Health Center of East Cen
tral Georgia and the Georgia Regional Hospital staff has facilitated Susan's
successful placement in the community. Hospital staff provider
detoxification and mental health treatment services to stabilize her
physically and mentally while CMHC staff planned and developed the services
to support Susan's re-entry to community living.

It is doubtful that Susan's success story would have been possible without
the availability of Chronically Mentally Ill (CMI) Residential funding. This
funding package provides sufficient resources to address the care needs of
challenging clientele such as Susan. CMI funding for residential services
was obtained by the CMHC through the award of a new contract from MHMRSA
Region Board 12 this year.

Perhaps you know a family or neighbor who is trying to cope with a relative
who suffers from mental illness, mental retardation or addictions. Where
would you turn for help with a loved one?

Last year, 7,000 area families turned to the Community Mental Health Center
of East Central Georgia off Highway 56 -- Mike Padgett Highway. A client
seeking or brought for help is assessed, a comprehensive care plan is then
developed and implemented by the center's 400 plus staff in cooperation with
family member. In some cases where there is no family, the staff acts in
that capacity, supervising the care of the client.

Twenty-five years ago, most mentally ill or retarded patients would have
been packed away in institutions -- warehoused -- their entire lives wasted.
Today we enjoy the benefits of years of research, intervention strategies
and psychiatric drugs that allow clients to functions productively and live
with  their families in their own homes.

In the public's mind, mental illness, mental retardation and addictive
disease are poorly understood and feared. CMHC clients run the gamut from
leading normal lives with coordinated support to those who must be
hospitalized in crisis. The latter are served in CMHC's 24-bed residential
facility for mental health crisis or  detoxification. After the crisis has
been resolved, clients step down to less intensive outpatient services.

Roughly 100 clients are served there each month with stays averaging three
to six days. The primary focus of all services is to limit or prevent the
need for hospitalization, and to provide the support needed for stabilized
clients to resume as normal a life as possible.

CMHC has targeted individuals with persistent and chronic mental
disabilities living in Richmond, Columbia, Lincoln, McDuffie, Taliafero,
Wilkes and Warren counties since 1976. It is a vital resource for families
and communities needing help ranging from out-patient counseling to
in-patient crisis management. The CMHC team
monitors client's progress, provides on-going case management support and
allows people to get life "back on track."

This Mother's Dau, May 9, Susan B. is back on track for fulfilling her wish.
May also is mental Health Awareness Month.

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