How DBSA Has Been Fighting the Stigma of Mental Illness

 

  Here at DBSA [Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance] Colorado Springs we approach mental illness as we would any chronic disease.  If someone came to us with diabetes or arthritis, we wouldn’t use that as an excuse to pass moral judgments on them – and so it is with depression and bipolar disorder.

 

Spreading the Word

 

  One of the best ways we have to get our message out to the public is to volunteer for every health fair and public event that will take us.  This year we have taken part in twenty such events, and are particularly proud of the Candidate Forum we held in September with three other mental health organizations.  It was the first time that we are aware of that candidates for public office were able to speak out and answer questions about the mental health care crisis in Colorado.  We feel justified in calling it a crisis, since our state has ranked in the bottom ten percent when in comes to mental health budgets.  The encouraging message they had for us is that some of them know what it’s like to have a friend or family member with a mental disorder, and that they hear what we’re trying to tell them.  This year we had a victory when Congress passed the mental health parity bill – now it’s time to raise the bar and decriminalize mental illness.

 

Messed-Up Priorities

 

  We are wasting altogether too much money putting people who are mentally ill into the criminal justice system, which cannot help them progress towards recovery even if they wanted to.  For less than the price of throwing one person in jail or prison for a year, our DBSA chapter can reach out to and help hundreds of people.  COMCOR is beginning to understand this, as individuals transitioning out of the criminal justice system started coming to our dual diagnosis group, first because it was mandatory, later because they voluntarily wanted to come.  A majority of the consumers we deal with have depression, bipolar disorder, or PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] and got into trouble after self-medicating with

alcohol or street drugs.  After a few weeks with our support group, they started learning new life skills, such as thinking about other people, working together on common goals, and warning younger group members about the consequences of alcoholism and drug use.

 

Present and Future Outreach Projects

 

  We participated in “The Best Christmas Ever,” on Tuesday, December 23, 2008, which provided us with the opportunity to network with other organizations and keep our name before the public.    The message of hope we shared that day is that if you’re depressed, you have someone you can talk to for free.  If your own family members or friends are stumped by your problems, it may pay to call in someone else with experience and training to help you figure out what’s really going on.

 

  The next public event/volunteer opportunity that we will be participating in will be the 35^th Advanced International Winter Symposium at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 2886 S. Circle Drive, Colorado Springs, January 28-31, 2009.