Saturday, January 22, 2011

This is a new blog that will focus on mental health issues.
It will mix a discussion of policy and treatment with stories from my experience that I hope will illustrate the issue and promote new thinking on the topics presented. I'll also include links to interesting articles. Please feel free to comment. You don't need to join to express your opinion or ask a question.

     
The Stories
The stories are my remembrances. Each of them is based on a true event in my work for Tompkins County Mental Health in Ithaca New York.  I have changed the names of every client, patient and co-worker except for Beau Saul, of the Ithaca Police Department, who I was fortunate enough to have as a partner. When confidentiality demanded it, I have changed details. The dialogue is my reconstruction of what was said at the time.   I have felt honored to be let into the lives of so many individuals over the years. Their stories are a gift I have been given.  Please enjoy them in the spirit with which they were written; to educate and inform.
Terry Garahan