Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Thorndale Fire Company screens mental health documentary
CALN » When someone is acting out, people tend to ask “what’s wrong with you?” Doctors are realizing those behaviors should cause people to ask, “what happened to you?”
That was part of the message at a mental health awareness program held by Chester County’s ACEs Coalition, the Brandywine Health Foundation and others, for people who are trained as “Mental Health First Aiders.” In Chester County, nearly 4,000 have been trained in Adult and Youth Mental Health First Aid.
A screening of “Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope” was shown Wednesday at Thorndale Fire Company. Event organizers said one goal of the program is to help dispel the stigma and shame of mental illness. Several speakers shared their experience living with a mental illness.
Nancy Perez has education in her blood and she couldn’t imagine not working, but changes in a stressful environment led to her breaking down. She worked as a teacher in Chester County for 17 years and became an administrator in Reading before working in the Chester Upland School District in Delaware County.
“I loved everything I was doing. I had fantastic experiences with the students, the teachers, the parents and the community,” Perez said. “I always set high expectations for myself and it was expected at home also. Set high expectations, meet it and exceed it, and that’s how I worked every day.”
Changes in administration and dealing with politics, she found herself unsure how to handle the changing environment and other situations that occurred in her school. She gained weight, then lost weight, her appetite kept changing, she had insomnia and her interactions with others changed.
“I didn’t understand what it was doing to me physically or mentally, but others could see it,” Perez said. “But I had a job to do, so I pushed through it.”
In 2014 she experienced a three-day mental and physical breakdown.
“For me it felt like a failure because I everything I had done, I met it and exceeded it,” Perez said.
She said her secretary helped her and “loved me like I was her own child.” Her family met her at the hospital and her husband told her not to return to school. Her family and the nurses helped her to realize the importance of selfcare. She said as a mother, a wife and an educator, it was hard to put herself first.
“I’m blessed to be on this journey,” she said. “I’m not ashamed.”
During her hospitalization when she was mentally exhausted, she realized her calling to share her experience to help others understand that “this could happen to anyone.”
At the age of 11, Aiden Kapczynski was diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder and specific phobia, following a time he continuously choked on food. He didn’t want to go to school and he didn’t want his mom to leave him for work.
“He thought that if I left that I wasn’t coming back,” his mom Krista Kapczynski said. “It was very hard to watch. I can’t image how hard it was to live.”
Now 14, Aiden has learned coping skills and mastered the understanding that anxiety doesn’t define someone.
“My goal was, and still is, to win as many anxiety battles as I can each day,” Aiden said. “I use my coping strategies every day. When my anxiety tells me to run, I stay and fight.”
Another free screening is set for Thursday from 6 – 7:30 p.m. at the Hankin Library. Registration is required and should be completed by tonight at https:// ChescoDHSTrainings. schedulemeappointments. com/ ?b2ZmZXJpbmdpZD0zMDIx.