Broken people...

In my work, I meet people who have gone through and are going through some of the worst events of their lives. I work with people who have been diagnosed with severe and persistent mental illness. My hope is that our program can help them understand their illness, work through it, and learn ways to live with it that will allow them some quality of life. It's harder than it sounds.

No one wants to hear they have a mental illness. The stigma that is placed on those two words - mental illness - is enormous. So much so that, often, their own families would rather not have anything to do with them because of it. Overwhelmingly, the people I work with have lived through horrible trauma in their lives as well. They are broken. Almost daily, I speak to good people who cannot see their own worth because they have lived through years of other people telling them they are worth nothing and will never be worth anything. It's very sad.

We all have incidents in our lives that cause us trauma. We are confronted with abuse, sometimes neglect, and deal with the deaths of loved ones that take us by surprise and knock us down. Most of us have learned ways to deal with these incidents and we get on with our lives. Some people, those who have an underlying mental health diagnosis, have an extremely hard time moving past those incidents. And sometimes those events of trauma, abuse and neglect are so severe that it stops them in their tracks.

The stories I could tell would make you cry. But, I cannot dwell in the sadness of their situations. I have to be the one to find that one tiny moment of hope and spotlight it so they can see it. When it works, it's magical. To show someone that they can achieve their goals in spite of their illness is really a miracle. To see someones happiness when they realize they can do it, that's amazing. And it's why I do what I do.

But, I'm not magical or a miracle worker. I'm just a person who can listen and ask questions and guide them as best I can. Sometimes, it's just the listening part that is the most important. Because, you see, like all of us, the people I work with have stories to tell. Life stories that I learn from every day. They give me more hope than I could ever give them. It's easy to pass these people by. They act weird. They might look strange. They may talk to themselves or someone who isn't really there. They might even smell bad. They are the ones who make us uncomfortable when we're riding the bus or in line at a bank or McDonald's. They are the ones we tell our kids to avoid. That's the saddest part because, without a doubt, they are people who could teach us all a lesson.

If you ever get the chance to volunteer at a shelter or a soup kitchen I highly recommend it. You will learn more about yourself and open your heart to so many good people that you will feel full. Full of hope. Full of honest love. Full of humanity.