Living with mental illness is hard. But having caring, supportive relationships in your life is a comfort and a help. Volunteers with the Mental Health Association in Greensboro’s Compeer program provide those relationships. What a blessing that is.
“Sheri and ‘Alexandra’ spend a couple of hours each week on the phone, chatting about work, friends, life.
Sometimes, Alexandra calls to vent. Sheri is always there to listen. And, more important to Alexandra, her friend doesn’t judge her.
Alexandra, 37, is bipolar with bouts of depression and anxiety. The Mental Health Association in Greensboro paired her a year ago with volunteer Sheri Pickens, 29, a Jamestown resident who manages a Winston-Salem business.
The two women make up one of 42 matches in the agency’s ‘Compeer’ program, which stands for companion-peer…”
» Read all of “Volunteers are good listeners for mentally ill” at News-Record.com
» Visit The Mental Health Association in Greensboro online.
Important note: I really need to add that I have one issue with the article, and that’s this phrase: “Alexandra, 37, is bipolar…” No, Alexandra is not bipolar. Alexandra has bipolar disorder.  She is not her illness. Mental illness does not define people. Certainly, mental illness can, and often does, play a significant (and sometimes devastating) role in a person’s life. Nevertheless, Alexandra ≠her mental illness. And that holds true for all of us who live with mental illness.
1 in 6 adults and almost 1 in 10 children suffer from a diagnosable mental illness. Yet, for many, the stigma associated with the illness, can be as great a challenge as the disease itself. This is where the misconceptions stop. This is where bias comes to an end. This is where we change lives. Because this is where we Bring Change 2 Mind.
