Treatment saves, improves lives
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fourth in a series of articles about mental health, managing disorders, treatment and local resources available for anyone with mental illness.
Mental health treatment services help manage mental illnesses, but they often provide lifesaving intervention and offer more far-reaching assistance than commonly known.
Patricia McGhee credits the services offered by Ouachita Behavioral Health and Wellness with turning her life around. Complications with her schizophrenia, anxiety and bipolar disorder led her down a dark path after her longtime boyfriend died.
“I was doing really bad at one time, until (OBHAW) came to the rescue,” McGhee said.
McGhee has lived with her disorders for
role in the Broad Greens teen franchise “Wish Upon” and a supporting role in the NewLine Studio feature “Life of the Party.” Purser will appear in season two of “Stranger Things,” which will air on Netflix in October.
Solleder said that Spa-Con booked Purser at a launching point in her career.
“She’s just now starting,” he said. “’Stranger Things’ was the splash.”
Solleder said that he sees Purser’s character as a highly relatable one, especially after her fate in season one of “Stranger Things.”
“I like the character of Barb a lot, and I think that a lot of people who enjoy fandom and sci-fi and comics and just general nerd-Dom really relate to Barb,” Solleder said. “She’s doing all the right things, and then she gets the worst consequences.”
Solleder said the decision to book Purser for the convention was reached through the Spa-Con Control Committee, which came up with a list of available celebrities within their budget. He mentioned that when they reached out to Purser, she accepted their offer without hesitation.
“From the moment we made her the offer, she was immediately interested,” Solleder said. “There wasn’t too much negotiation for the offer.”
Purser’s appearance at SpaCon will come a little over a month before Netflix releases season two of “Stranger Things” on Oct. 31. Solleder said that, timing-wise, Purser’s appearance at the convention “couldn’t be better.”
Spa-Con’s other two special celebrity guests will be announced at the end of May. Though Solleder did not disclose the guests’ names, he did say that the characters that the celebrities are known for will compliment Purser’s character well.
“Those characters are going to make a whole bunch of sense with this character,” Solleder said of his other special celebrity guests.
The comic books will include a continuation of the story “Spa City Underground,” which appeared in Spa-Con 2016’s convention program, as well as other information about Spa-Con and special events.
“The library staff is so excited for Spa-Con this year,” Erin Baber, the library’s public relations coordinator, said in a news release. “We had a great time working on it last year and we were pleased with the turnout. Plus this year is going to be bigger and better. I’m really looking forward to the special guests announcements. I think everyone is going to be very happy with the convention this year.”
With everything that the convention will have in September, Solleder believes that Spa-Con will be set apart from other cosplay conventions in Arkansas.
“Everything we have coming is really gonna define us as to where we’re coming from,” Solleder said. “We’re smart, we’re arty, we’re eccentric, we’re weird. It’s gonna happen.”