Mental Illness and Disabilities Awareness

Bill Nemitz is a journalist with the Portland Press Herald who routinely reports on the best of people who are willingly open about overcoming personal and professional challenges presented by particular disabilities. 

An October 2, 2011 article titled "From Voices in His Head....to a Voice of Hope," tells about a Nemitz  interview with South Portland resident Jeff Daigle who shared his experience living with schizophrenia.  Mr. Daigle sometimes speaks at Maine Medical Center's grand rounds to physicians, nurses and mental health professionals to help them better understand his life with schizophrenia.  Mr. Daigle describes how some people reacted to his mental illness.  "...he'd break down in tears at which point 'everyone would look at me and walk away'", he says.

People with Schizophrenia have been misunderstood for centuries, because symptoms of this mental illness are unpredictable.  Some recent advances in social, and psychiatric interventions are helping people to understand and manage schizophrenia's symptoms, similar to how diabetes or high blood pressure are treated - through education and prevention of acute episodes.

Mr. Daigle says, "....someone can deal with schizophrenia on a day-to-day basis and still have a full life."

Unfortunately, while people with schizophrenia are willing and able to work hard towards achieving their life goals, there are sometimes others in the workplace or schools who continue to harbor misunderstandings about mental illness.  In fact, education programs are available to help support Mr. Daigle's hopeful statement.  The Cromwell Center for Disabilities Awareness www.cromwellcenter.org teaches students, teachers, guidance counselors and adults in the workplace about acceptance and tolerance for people with all disabilities, whether they are emotional, behavioral, inherited, acquired, physical or the result of mental illness.

Congratulations to Mr. Daigle for reaching out to help others through his 5 years of work as a peer support counselor at Portland's Shalom House, a mental health agency. He also volunteers during Sunday Mass as a greeter at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland. 

Mr. Daigle "finally decided to bare his soul to a counselor..." who helped him understand his symptoms.  The Cromwell Center's expert educators can be equally helpful teaching those of us in the public, who may not be professionally trained, to understand how to recognize the accomplishments of people who are challenged by their disabilities. 

"We Change Attitudes" is The Center's mission!  Thanks to Bill Nemitz for raising the public's understanding about schizophrenia by reporting on Mr. Daigle's life experiences.