[NYAPRS Enews] PS: 'A Mile In Their Shoes' Highlights Voices of the Heart

[Harvey Rosenthal]

NYAPRS Note: Here's some impressive coverage citing the efforts of
NYAPRS member agency Voices of the Heart in Glens Falls.

 

A Mile In Their Shoes Woman Draws On Her Struggles To Aid Others'
Depression

By Meg Hagerty Post Star May 11, 2009 

 

When people talk with Randie MaKenzie about hopelessness, depression and
anxiety, she really listens.

 

She has been there.

 

At Voices of the Heart, a nonprofit that provides mental health services
to people across Warren and Washington counties, MaKenzie leads the "Go
Getters" socialization program for senior citizens, taking them out for
breakfast and shopping excursions. She also talks with area high school
students about mental illness and visits Glens Falls Hospital to conduct
in-service programs on the mental health unit.

 

She will be helping at local events going on during May's Mental Health
Month.

 

At a time when MaKenzie needed it most, the peer advocacy program in
Hudson Falls helped her.

 

Having endured abuse as a child and attempted suicide when she was 8,
MaKenzie got through life as best she could, which included "self
medicating" in college. She taught for 20 years, at a public school and
then a Christian school.

 

In her 30s, MaKenzie sought help for an eating disorder and was
diagnosed with chronic depression, anxiety and panic, she said. She came
under the care of a psychotherapist and psychiatrist and continued to
muddle through life.

 

The breaking point came several years later while she was trying to
raise her nephew on her own, care for a mother afflicted with
Alzheimer's disease and hold a job as a client coordinator for an agency
in Saratoga Springs.

 

Her co-workers heard about her mental health issues and began treating
her as though she could no longer be relied upon to do her work
properly.

 

"One day I was driving to work and I had what you'd call a meltdown, and
I could not go to work. That's the last day I worked for a considerable
amount of time. My depression got way too deep to do that," she said.

 

After her mother died, MaKenzie was at home when a Saratoga County
hospice pastor stopped in to see her. At the time, she said, she was
rarely leaving the house.

 

She revealed to the pastor her anxiety about applying for a job because
she didn't know how to explain the eight-year gap on her resume.

 

He urged her to apply to Voices of the Heart, and she did, with
hesitation. During the job interview, she revealed she had mental health
issues.

 

MaKenzie, now 60, was told that having mental health issues helped to
qualify her for the position.

 

"This is a place where people can come and they're not judged and they
don't have to deal with discrimination with mental health issues," she
said.

 

John Sullivan, director of Voices of the Heart, said the peer program
and services are "cutting-edge across the country," with those getting
services having a say in how they participate.

 

Historically, mentally ill people have been kept separate from the
general population. The modern-thinking peer movement advocates to "stop
that nonsense," Sullivan said. "We're people. We have to grow up in this
country and realize that Mother Nature shares things with us like mental
illness."

 

Mental illnesses can affect everyday people like doctors, lawyers,
bankers and others, yet they still function, he said.

 

People can refer themselves to the program, or they can be referred by
hospitals, clinics, individual therapists, family doctors and
organizations like Catholic Charities and the Salvation Army.

 

Sullivan sees Voices of the Heart as a hub where meeting the needs of
those who are mentally ill is coordinated. He likens the program's
administrators to pilots in a plane, with those needing help as the
co-pilots.

 

After being shown how to fly the plane, the co-pilot can man the
controls, with the program's staff standing by.

 

Someone in the community might need housing or, perhaps, he's being
taken advantage of by his landlord. The organization can help him find
legal support.

 

Voices of the Heart can help someone fill out a food stamp application
or teach social interaction skills to those who have felt too insecure
to venture out on their own.

 

Someone else might be coming from a hospital and wanting to begin a
wellness recovery action plan, in which she will learn about her
illness, identify the triggers for relapse, learn how to manage crises
and develop a support system.

 

"Some people tend to use us like a fraternity, but they don't have to go
to these programs. They can pick and choose," Sullivan said.

 

The organization also runs support groups for veterans, senior citizens
(Go Getters), people with bipolar disorders (Roller Coasters) and
Schizophrenia Anonymous.

 

Now working 20 hours per week as a senior peer advocate in charge of
supervising others, MaKenzie has learned how better to manage her own
mental health. She has taken up water aerobics. She feels empowered.

 

"I had to make a decision: Stay home and vegetate (or) go out and take a
job. I'm making headway in all areas of my life," she said.

 

http://www.poststar.com/articles/2009/05/11/news/local/14754248.txt

 

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