NEW ‘RECOVERY SUPPORT
SPECIALIST’ LEADER KNOWS FIRST-HAND THE EFFECTS OF MENTAL ILLNESS
When a person is trying to recover from the devastating effects of mental illness, substance abuse, cancer or other illness, it often helps to talk with someone who has “been there,” someone who has battled the condition and recovered sufficiently to lead a useful, fulfilling life.
Individuals who receive services through the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services are doing just that now – benefiting from the experience, strength and hope of 30 newly hired recovery support specialists, all in recovery from mental illness.
Melody Riefer, ODMHSAS director of consumer affairs, said the state agency is resolute about operating from a recovery oriented perspective. The 30 recovery support specialists will bolster the efforts of employees with more formal educations in clinical psychology and related specialties.
“The addition of employees with ‘experiential’ perspectives will go a long way in bringing about the culture shift that is necessary for us to become completely recovery oriented and consumer driven.”
Amber Guerrero, 31, will lead training efforts for the new hires.
And, truly, if anyone knows about how mental illness can ravage a life, she does.
Diagnosed with clinical depression and post-traumatic stress disorder at age 17, Guerrero grew up with mental illness in her family. Her mother suffered from bi-polar disorder, and eventually took her life because of it.
“It was hard because I saw my mother … She had a terrible time battling bipolar disorder. It was devastating to our family,” Guerrero said. “When I was diagnosed with clinical depression and PTSD, I struggled with that because I didn’t want to suffer like she did. I didn’t want to be so depressed that I couldn’t get out of bed or bathe or even get off the couch.”
From ages 3 to 17, Guerrero also suffered violence at the hands of her stepfather.
“He wouldn’t let my mother get help, because he had her convinced that if she tried to leave, he would kill everyone in the family,” she said. “And when she did try to leave, he did try to kill her.”
In 2002, she ended her struggle by taking her life.
At that point, Guerrero became so depressed she, literally, couldn’t move.
“I couldn’t get out of bed. I couldn’t bathe. I didn’t leave my house for weeks.”
About six months after her mother’s death, she started getting better, a success she attributes to, among other things, medication for clinical depression.
Guerrero went to college, volunteered to organize “Survivors of Suicide Day” for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and eventually received a bachelor’s degree in family studies and gerontology from Southern Nazarene University. In November, she will finish her master’s degree in clinical psychology from SNU.
Before joining the
Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, she worked
at
Guerrero said she
is excited about coordinating the group of 30 recovery support specialists, who
fill staff positions at various facilities throughout
“I can say to someone that ‘I understand,’ and they know that I do,” she said. “I might not know exactly what they’re going through, but I have some understanding of what it’s like to experience mental illness. I know what it’s like to take medication, and I know what it’s like to feel like you don’t have any control. That’s one of the things about having a mental illness that’s so devastating – you feel like you’ve lost control. Getting that control back is one of the features of recovery that’s so important.”
A degree in gerontology and marriage to a man of a different culture (her husband, Juan, is Hispanic) hopefully will enable her to relate to people of all ages and cultures, she said.
Riefer, her supervisor, also is excited about the new program.
“For so long, people who were diagnosed with a mental illness were basically given a ‘life sentence,’” she said. “They were told it would be a lifelong illness that would impair their ability to be in a long-term relationship or to have fulfilling work. Recovery support specialists shatter that myth. They show that recovery is possible and there are people out there who are doing it, living it, and that every person – regardless of diagnosis or life circumstance, can recover.
“With
newer medications, better treatment modalities and, mainly, changing how the
world views people with mental illness, individuals are able to live life in
the community of their choice, rather than being institutionalized for life
such as happened back in the 1950s. Recovery is all about shattering those
myths, and Amber gets to do that.”
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