Climbing that mountain...

Some of the people we work with have co morbidity. This means that they are not only struggling to manage a mental illness but are also deep in the throws of addiction. It's a horrible sight to see when someone is intent on drinking themselves to death. Sorry to be so blunt but that's exactly what they're doing. We offer them all the possible opportunities to start a journey to their recovery. We have an addictions specialist on board. We have Peer Support staff who have "been there, done that" for them to use as mentors. We talk to them every single day about what their lives might be like if they would take that first step.

Yesterday, one of these souls came in, fell twice, was severely dehydrated and refused treatment when we called an ambulance. She stumbled back out to her waiting ride and went home to drink some more. She came in again later, still in bad shape, still refusing to let us help her. But, in good conscience, we had to do something. We actually had to force her to get to an ER by making a refusal on our part. We refused to keep seeing her here if she did not, at least, go to the ER to get checked out. Sometimes this works. This time it did. She went and was admitted to the hospital. I say sometimes this works because the mental illness side of some of these folks wants our help so badly that they will continue to come in spite of their alcohol issues. But, we are also realistic enough to know, in this case, that when she is released to go home she will drink again. It's a slow miserable death.

Alcoholism is treatable but the person has to buy into the idea that there is something inside them that is worth saving. That's the hardest part. So many of the people we see have had their self esteem whittled down throughout their lives that it is almost non-existent. They don't think of themselves as worth anything, let alone life itself. They seek out and endure horribly abusive relationships again and again. You'd be surprised at how many sick individuals are out there that prey on people they can take advantage of and become co-dependent. They get some weird kick out of breaking people down and then being a "hero" by being there to pick them up again only to start that cycle over again.

But we keep trying. It's that hope thing I wrote about previously. We keep trying and hoping and maybe, just maybe, one of them will get it and they can start to make a change.