ACE marks 15 years of mental health support
A woman who has been diagnosed with the “full meal deal” of schizophrenia, depression and anxiety shared her story and provided some inspiration to those in a similar predicament when the Activity Centre for Empowerment celebrated its 15th anniversary on Wednesday.
Speaking to about three dozen people at the organization’s downtown office, Elizabeth Anderson gave an account of a 25-year struggle and the coping strategies she has developed over those years. “I still have bad days,” she said.
“I want to put that out front.”
Now 54 years old, Anderson, who lives in Calgary, said her journey began as a teenager when she started to suffer bouts of depression so crippling she almost lost the will to live. At one point, she slashed her wrists and ended up in hospital for six weeks.
This was in 1979 and at that time treatment was not very good.
“There was no medication really for young adults and they didn’t want to diagnose me because they didn’t want to label me,” Anderson said.
“They sent me away with no aftercare, with no medication.”
Back at home, Anderson more or less continued on. She excelled in drama class while in high school but behind the scenes life was not going well. She ran away and ended up living with a friend of a friend. She graduated from high school on time but her willingness to succeed or set goals had stopped.
She bounced from job to job and at 19 years old, tried to commit suicide once again, this time by overdosing on painkillers.
Following her recovery, her parents talked her into enrolling in drama at university. But depression got in the way. “In acting you do a lot of group work. Nobody wanted to be my partner,” Anderson said.
She dropped almost all of her courses and, unable to stick to anything and her marks sliding from among the top to the very bottom, she was twice kicked out of university. But on the very day she was expelled for a second time, Anderson met her future husband.
Two years later, in 1993, they married. Suffice to say, it was a wedding like few others.
“I had a meltdown in front of the caterer two days before the wedding and I was crying so hard and so long he thought we weren’t getting married,” Anderson said. “And so we arrived in the hall and there was no food for 120 people.”
Life did not get much better. Anderson became paranoid. Certain her possessions were being stolen, she began hiding them and then would forget where they were. In one year, they moved four times and she and her husband were fighting every day.
The turning point came in 1995 when a friend took one look at her and knew Anderson was suffering from psychosis. In what could only be described as an intervention, her friend and her husband used a bit of subterfuge to get her into the psych ward.
Anderson did not take it well but by then she was too emotionally drained to fight back.
“I was out of tears, I was out of wherewithal,” she said.
She was put on medication and started taking things one step at a time.
She began by setting three goals – make her bed, put away her dishes, and because she was paranoid about phones, call her mother.
Slowly but surely, she made progress. Her goals became more ambitious. She joined the local chapter of the Schizophrenia Society where she worked on public speaking.
Eventually, she joined some others in giving presentations to schools.
From there, she went back to university and completed a bachelor’s degree in communication and culture and set goals of writing a book, setting up a website and make a living as a public speaker.
The results have included the book Being Mentally Healthy (In Spite of Mental Illness), beingmentallylheallthy.com and, of course, her appearance at ACE.
Anderson put plenty of emphasis on setting goals, but topping her six-step recipe for success are a timely intervention and the right medication. She said it typically takes about two years to find the right ones and even then, Anderson said there can be difficult times and she needs to lay low, which is why she prefers to be self-employed.
Next up on her list is finding supportive people, followed by reason to hope, a reason to be well and something important to do round out her list. While the reason to be well was her husband, it can be anything, Anderson said, including being “well enough to feed the dog.”
Anderson also talked extensively about the struggle to save her marriage. It was a five-year process that she said was “suspiciously like a grief cycle.” But like a “lightning bolt,” her husband realized one day that he no longer wanted to leave and they’ve been happy ever since.
Anderson said she is a supporter of involuntary treatment when it’s necessary.
“I know there is a fine line because your rights are being taken away but there is an exception to every rule and this is one of them,” she said.
She also said parents and loved ones need to be kept in the loop and was critical of the lack of support her husband received while she was in care.
The ACE, which opened on April 22, 2004, provides social, recreational and therapeutic volunteer opportunities to adults living with mental illness and addictions. It currently provides these services to over 600 registered members, with over 1,000 visits each month.