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Virgil Stucker Describes Healing, Building Bridges and a “Recovery College” Concept

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final cooperriis logo

This has been a turbulent week on this blog, beginning with a letter from an angry mother accusing NAMI and journalist Robert Whitaker of causing her son to stop taking his medications. This led to Whitaker’s response. In between, many of you posted passionate, emotional and sometimes angry comments.

Disagreements are inevitable. The question is: can we learn from each other and move forward to build a better system? I asked Virgil Stucker, the executive director of CooperRiis, to answer that question in today’s blog. Located in western North Carolina, CooperRiis is a therapeutic community. Like others that I have visited, it creates an inclusive environment where individuals feel accepted, something I believe is essential to recovery. CooperRiis and other therapeutic settings are understandably expensive so I asked Virgil to share how some of the guiding principles at CooperRiis can be used to help others in their own communities.

It is time to build bridges across the divisions  

Thank you for the invitation, Pete, to address your readers. Of  late, the dialogue, both on your blog and in the national arena has become quite divisive when it comes to answering the question: How can we best help the vulnerable amongst us, those with mental illness and sometimes addiction issues, to achieve and maintain their highest levels of recovery?  I agree with you that by “working together cooperatively with respect and open mindedness, we can achieve change.” 

You asked, “What would a mental health care system look like” that could be individually responsive to complex mental health challenges and provide effective care that is compassionate, comprehensive, and community-based? 

As we look around us, we notice that people are more different than the same.

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Rules For Posting Comments On My Blog

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What you are reading is an Author’s blog. It is not a public chalkboard where anyone can scribble whatever they wish for others to read.

My comment policy is reprinted below and can be found at the bottom of my home page.

During the past twenty-four hours, several comments appeared on recent blogs that violate my policy. They are being removed and I apologize to readers who were offended by their language or their content.

I encourage differences of opinion, but this is my website and I reserve the right to remove posts for any reason. If you are unable to abide by my policy, you are welcome to launch your own blog or post your comments elsewhere.

Thanks to those who follow the rules and add your thoughts to our discussions.

Pete Earley

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Robert Whitaker Responds To Angry Mom Blog: Who Has Really Failed Her Son?

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whitakerrobert

The angry letter from a distraught mother that I published Monday has set off a lively debate. Yesterday, I reported that the woman’s son has voluntarily admitted himself into the hospital and is meeting with his family. I also explained my views about Robert Whitaker’s appearance at NAMI’s national conference. Today, Robert Whitaker published his response to the angry mother on his own website. I asked if I could reprint his words here because I think it is only fair, after the angry attack in Monday’s blog, to give him the same auidence that Angry Mom had. He graciously agreed to let me reprint his post.

 

My Reply to Pete Earley: Do I Have Blood On My Hands?

By Robert Whitaker

Since I spoke at NAMI’s national convention last month, the writer Pete Earley has invited people who listened to my talk to send him their reports of the event. Earley wrote a book titled Crazy, which was both about his son’s struggles with mental illness and the criminalization of the mentally ill, and in his book and other writings, he has told of his frustration with laws that prevented his son from being forcibly medicated. Yesterday, on his website, he published a letter from a mom who attended my talk with her adult son, and she told of how, after returning from the meeting, her son apparently abruptly stopped taking his medication and has now gone missing.

In her letter to Earley, she blamed both me and NAMI (for inviting me) for this bad turn in her son’s life. “In my heart, I wish I could hold [Whitaker] and NAMI legally responsible for what is happening. They gave an alcoholic a bottle of whiskey for Christmas and asked him to join in a toast  . . .   I damn them (NAMI and me) and if my son ends up dead, I believe his blood should be on their hands.”

Earley then put this headline on her letter: “Mother Condemns NAMI and Whitaker: Blood on Their Hands.”

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UPDATE About Angry Mother’s Letter; My Views About Whitaker and NAMI

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angryletters

 

Here is an update about Monday’s blog that described a mother who was furious after she attended Robert Whitaker’s presentation at the national NAMI convention and her son later stopped taking his medications. Less than forty-eight hours after her son left home, his mother received a call from a social worker at a homeless shelter. Their son was there. A mental health care worker arranged a meeting and the son has agreed to voluntarily admit himself to a hospital.

A number of you offered your prayers and extended offers of help to the family through me. In particular, I received a call from the national NAMI staff offering help to the family in whatever way possible — a gesture that I found especially gracious given the mother’s hostility toward NAMI.

The mother asked me to publicly thank everyone for their kind words and support. At the advice of the mental health professional helping them, the parents have decided to not say anything more about their son or their family so that they can work together to move down a road to recovery.

When it comes to the issues raised in the blog, I feel conflicted. I have divided my thoughts into three categories — those of a journalist, a NAMI member and a father.

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Mother Condemns NAMI and Whitaker: Blood On Their Hands.

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angryletters

 

I wanted to share this story with you.

Dear Mr. Earley

I have a son, much like your’s, who became sick while in college. Voices were telling him to harm himself. He climbed onto the top of a residence hall and was standing on the edge because he thought he could fly. The police talked him down and thought he was on drugs.

My son was diagnosed with schzophrenia but was convinced nothing was wrong with him and he refused to take any medication. From that moment on, our lives became a living hell. My son threatened us, destroyed his room in our house, and when we practiced “tough love” and told him he couldn’t live with us unless he got treatment, he walked out and disappeared.

Only a parent who has a child who has disappeared on the streets can tell you how horrible it is to go to bed at night not knowing where your son or daughter might be. We lived like that for a year the first time before my son came home.

I am so angry I had to walk away from my computer just now to catch my breath and compose myself as I write this. Let me tell you what happened next.

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Pat Milam Gives News Interview: Attacks HIPAA

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Pat Milam, one of the everyday heroes  mentioned in my blog last week, was interviewed on his local Louisiana station. I want to share that news story with you. Since his son’s suicide, Pat has been a voacl advocate, telling his story on this blog, testifying before Congress and now sharing his family’s experience via local television.

What’s your view about HIPAA?
http://www.fox8live.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=91047