The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘There is a balm in Gilead’
Hartford Marathon race an opportunity to dissipate stigma of mental illness
MIDDLETOWN — Lucy McMillan’s professional goal might just put her out of a job.
The chief development officer at Gilead Community Services and city resident sees a future when those living with mental illness are regarded no differently than anyone else with a health issue.
And certainly not singled out or stigmatized for their condition.
“I’m going to work as hard as I can for that day. I have to have hope there’s going to be a day I’m inspired and hopeful,” she said.
The organization, at 222 Main St. Extension, offers outpatient psychiatric counseling, residential services for the mentally ill, case management and social/ vocational rehabilitation.
In this, Gilead’s golden anniversary, the nonprofit is launching two fundraising campaigns April 2: Hearts of Gold, to encourage people to give $500 over the course of a year to mark 50 years; or donate to its future via the Anniversary Endowment Campaign.
Gilead is also hosting a team to walk or run any of the Harvard Pilgrim Middletown 10 Mile, Legends 3.5 and HMF Fitkids quarterand half-mile races taking place in Middletown April 9. They’ve set a $30,000 goal on the Crowdrise fundraising site. They’re hoping more people will consider joining the team alone or in their own groups, collecting donation pledges toward their goals.
Many may not know the organization’s beginnings at Wesleyan University.
In 1968, student Matt Lamstein became concerned about those struggling with mental illness after collaborating with friends Myron Kinberg and Bernie Steinberg, researchers looking into the effects of institutionalization on patients at Connecticut Valley Hospital.
At the time, people were being released into the community with no support system, according to Gilead.
Lamstein asked Wesleyan for help, and help did come: a house on High Street with a rent of $1 a month. There, with a $10,000 grant from the state, Lamstein and his fellow students took in recently discharged individuals.
That same April, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed by an assassin. The Wesleyan community flocked to the chapel to remember King’s life. To honor him, the congregation sang the old hymn, “There is a Balm in Gilead.”
The name stuck and Gilead Community Services was formed.
“Having a mental illness condition is one small piece of anyone’s life,” McMillan said. “That’s the beautiful opportunity that we have today. That was the whole model we started in 1968.
“They housed Wesleyan students with individuals receiving mental health services so they could develop relationships, and that’s the key to everything. They were just living together. They would have meals together, they were roommates, and that was the whole idea,” she added.
That mission has stayed consistent. “[Mental illness] used to be the best-kept secret, but that’s not the challenge anymore,” McMillan said. Spreading the word is. The organization holds Compassion Counts seminars twice a year on the shoreline and in Middletown, where up to 200 people have come at a time to learn about a range of topics. Most recently, in Old Saybrook, the talk centered on the anxiety and stress of being a teen and the pressure to always achieve, McMillan said.
“Gilead has recovery core principles and one of those is to help integrate individuals that we serve into the community. We still are struggling with the stigma,” she added.
This is the third year Gilead Community Services Senior Case Manager Deb Carpenter has taken part in the race. The clients she manages at a supervised residence for men get geared up for April by exercising year round.
On race day, each dons a blue-and-white Run for Every 1 T-shirt, which represents the statistic that one in every five Americans experiences mental illness. Spectators witness hundreds of people — a sea of blue — walking the streets.
“We have so many people out there with t-shirts,” Carpenter said. “It’s a good visual for the community to see people [with mental illness] are in their community.
“It’s nice that we get together with the community and everybody is equal, that we get to work toward goals,” during preparation for the event, said Carpenter, who’s been with Gilead for four years.
This year’s Legends 3.5 is shorter than last year’s 4.5-mile and 2016’s 4-mile run. Still, for anyone who hasn’t kept up with an exercise regimen, a race, however long, can be pretty daunting. That first year out was a learning curve, Carpenter said.
“When we first started walking, we didn’t know if we could finish it with some of the clients” — not only because of the distance but each individual’s exercise level.
Her group never anticipated a walk would require such fitness — or training.
“We had no idea what we were doing the first time we went out: We had never done this before. The next year, we came up with goals. We got more people in our house interested, and staff, too,” Carpenter said.
One of her clients, Earl, who lives in a supervised apartment program, is taking part in the race for the third year. When he first heard about Gilead’s participation a couple of years ago, he was in pretty good shape, and figured it would be a great chance to challenge himself.
“I never thought I would be able to finish a race.”
Being involved in a Gilead Board of Directors committee affords him a number of returns. “It has spread the message of what Gilead stands for and it makes me feel good.”
He has both Legends
race medals hanging on his wall.
Some of Carpenter’s other clients were surprised to learn everyone who crossed the finish line was given one just for completing the race. “The first year they didn’t finish, and they didn’t realize that people that did finish got medals.”
That’s when their group got serious about competing.
“The second year, we were so focused on ‘We’re going to be able to finish this race’” that members worked throughout the year increasing their endurance, and she trained along with them. The group did a lot of walking, to the store, along hills — and even incorporated fishing and other outdoor activities into their regimen.
“We tried to beat our time, and we did,” Carpenter said. “We noticed people losing weight and getting more fit. Every time we were out walking, we’d be talking about the race coming up next year: ‘Let’s do this.’
“Now they know they can do it.”
On April 9, that wave of bright blue will remind participants, spectators and other runners about 1 in 5.
“Everybody is impacted by somebody who had a mental health condition,” McMillan said. “We have a lot of potential advocates out there. We just have to educate them.”
For information on Gilead Community Services, visit gileadcs.org. To learn more about the Harvard Pilgrim Middletown 10 Mile, Legends 3.5 and HMF Fitkids races, see hartfordmarathon.com. Check out the Gilead team’s Crowdrise page at crowdrise.com.