Resolution No.1? Take care of your mental health
Siblings, spouses, friends may be experiencing mental health challenges, yet are fearful of sharing, or even acknowledgeing them.
What do Van Gogh, Hemingway, Frank Lloyd Wright, Edgar Allen Poe, James Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Michaelangelo and Brian Wilson have in common?
Besides being brilliant and highly successful, all struggled with their mental health.
Mental health issues and illness live among us. Siblings, spouses, friends may be experiencing symptoms that are changing their lives, yet they may be too fearful to share, or even acknowledge them.
Sound familiar? If this you, or someone you know or love, make this the year you ask the question “how?” instead of “why?”
Make it your resolution to be more interested, more knowledgeable and more empathetic. Learn how to get more information and offer more help. The more you know and learn, the better you will be to help others as well as yourself. After all, mental health issues are here to stay – it's what we do about them that truly matters.
During the Pandemic, the need for mental health became more acute. Isolation led to depression for many people who were away from the people they enjoy and care about, unable to get out and around, and uncertain and detached about jobs that shifted to remote work – or were eliminated altogether.
Feeling “detached” and “isolated” are common warning signs described by those experiencing mental health troubles.
Fred Carpenter is a living example of someone who was seemingly at the top of his game. While serving as a senior vice president and market executive for a local bank and as Vice Mayor Pro Tem of the City of Greenville, he says he began to experience “crippling anxiety and major depression.”
He was forced to retire in his mid-50s, but says he is fortunate that with good medical care and treatment, he has been able to recover.
“For me mental health is personal,” Carpenter says. “Even though I seemed to be doing very well, I started losing interest in things that had previously brought me fulfillment, as well as anxiety over things that I had previously handled well.”
Mental health professionals call major depression and anxiety “two sisters,” one almost always accompanies the other.
Carpenter says he’s experienced help first-hand and has seen it in action with others. He has served on the board of directors at Gateway House since the 1980s and currently serves as board chair for the Greenville mental health non-profit organization.
The agency provides housing in one of 71 apartment units, educational opportunities and transitional employment for people suffering with severe and recurring mental illness.
Carpenter calls some of the outcomes “nothing short of miraculous. Through socialization with peers, and so much more, members regain or begin a very useful and meaningful life.”
Caroline Stewart says her son, Elliott, has suffered from depression and anxiety that support from a loving family and even medical care and medication were not able to relieve.
Gateway House’s “clubhouse” community of intensive support and treatment has been a game-changer for Elliott, his mother says.
“It has been the environment that he needed to relieve some of the pressure of his mental illness,” she said. “He finally had friends and peers and a daily purpose in his responsibilities at Gateway. He was also able to find employment.”
Stewart has also embraced the opportunity to better understand mental health and mental illness treatment. She now serves as vice chair of Gateway’s board.
She and Carpenter say they agree that while there is no one thing that will cure mental illness, an environment like Gateway’s clubhouse atmosphere provides a sense of belonging and purpose that is a great step in managing mental health problems and mental illness.
More:Greenville's Gateway House builds community through healing
In 2020, Gateway opened a new Tudor-style 20,000 square foot residential and treatment facility on Rutherford Street near downtown Greenville.
For those interested in learning more about Gateway, tours of the facility are available as is information about opportunities to help. Details are at gateway-sc.org.
Mental health matters for all. Be sure to take time to take care of you! Exercise, breathe, call a friend, get outdoors and most important don’t be afraid to ask for help.