Finding the Way Back

Isabela Zabava

Years ago, Sean felt trapped. He had lost who he was and did not know how to get back.

He sought relief through selfmedication but that only led to addiction. Life felt overwhelming and he was losing his relationship with his two daughters.

Sean returned to his home town where he found himself homeless and at a crossroads. His daughters tried to support him as best they could but,

Sean returned to his home town where he found himself homeless and at a crossroads.

despite their love for him, they did not know how to help. Finally, they could no longer witness him slowly disappearing and urged him to stand up and fight against the forces pulling him down.

If Sean wanted his girls in his life, he would need to find the courage to make a change. He chose to reach out for help.

Sean’s mental health recovery began like the journeys of many other people navigating the challenges of mental illness—with a hospital stay. His doctor admitted him to a psychiatric ward where he remained for the initial months of his battle to find his way back to himself. Once discharged, he entered another mental health care centre in the hopes of continuing his journey.

Following his institutional stays, Sean was connected to the Recovery and Rehabilitation Program at Riverview in Coquitlam, one of Coast Mental Health’s community-based mental health care facilities. There, Sean was able to begin to build his new life.

Sean’s struggle with mental illness is unfortunately common throughout BC and beyond. Mental illness symptoms are often not identified before they progress to an advanced stage or before relief is sought through self-medicating with addictive substances. Lives can be derailed in an instant.

Even when help is sought through the hospital-based system, little is known about the support that is needed beyond the hospital to maintain recovery. For many people, a hospital stay for an intense mental illness episode means that they lose their housing or their jobs or are unable to return to school. Any progress made during the hospital stay can be quickly lost.

People with mental illness often need to return to the hospital for help with relapses or worsening symptoms. Fortunately, community-based mental health care is there to offer them the means to continue their recovery by providing housing, recovery support services, and employment or education.

Community-based mental health care is a little known part of the continuum of care for mental health, yet it provides recovery services to a majority of people facing mental illness challenges. For example, multiple studies have demonstrated that cognitively based skill-building treatments and services such as cognitive-behavioural therapy, dialectical-behavioural therapy, and cognitive remediation can positively alter the life course for those with complex mental illnesses.

Research suggests that bridging new strategies into real-life situations results in better retention in treatment and better outcomes, including higher likelihood of being employed 6 months after the end of treatment.

Through the generosity of legacy and other donors, Coast Mental Health has been able to implement a Cognitive Remediation Program that combines all the above therapies at Riverview.

These days, the staff at Coast Mental Health can’t miss Sean’s eyes beaming each time he speaks about his daughters. And it’s no surprise that his resiliency and continued choice to connect with the best of himself are inspired by his children.

“We’re all running toward ourselves . . . Drugs weren’t my downfall. I was my own downfall. Coast’s staff has been great and I finally feel like I have a team.”

By healing the connection with his daughters, Sean has begun to bridge the gap that mental illness forged between them.

“Our relationship has gotten a lot better ever since he went to get help; he’s made so much progress at Riverview,” says daughter Jocelyn as she shares her feelings. “His recovery is leading him back to us. It’s starting to give us back our dad.” Coast Mental Health is the largest community-based mental health care provider in British Columbia, serving more than 4300 people each year. For over 45 years, it has provided people living with mental illness, like Sean, with the three essential elements of community-based recovery—a place to live, a place to connect, and a place to work. Those supports are made possible in part through generous legacy gifts from individuals, as well as other donations. Every donation to Coast Mental Health Foundation provides people like Sean with the means to reclaim and rebuild their lives.

Legacy gifts truly have the ability to change and save lives. s Isabela Zabava is Executive Director at Coast Mental Health Foundation.

www.coastmentalhealth.com/getinvolved/a-gift-in-your-will

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