Affordable housing:
a vital part of sound mental health

by Sharon Taylor

The Coast Foundation has enabled me to have a safe, good quality, affordable apartment in the West End for about 12 years now. There are different kinds of housing available, depending on your situation and needs: semi-independent living or SIL housing, apartments, and boarding houses.

Having a safe home has enabled me to quit smoking. I needed time to settle down and become more stable. This act of quitting smoking alone caused major positive changes in my life. No more hacking cough. No more living with the fact that I knew I was harming myself. I had cleaner clothes and no more "filled to the brim with butts" dirty ashtrays. There was more money to buy nice things for my home and for myself. This included a stereo, CD's and tapes and nice dinners out with friends. I was able to afford nice clothes and lots of the little extras that make life so enjoyable, like bath salts or a tube of lipstick every once in awhile.

You would be frightened too if you saw people in starched white coats coming at you with their weapons of fear and silencing - needles, restraints and shock treatments

Once my health started to improve, I was able to go back to school and take the Mental Health Worker program at Douglas College. That was exciting and gave me the opportunity to stretch my mental muscles. Completing the course was good for my self-esteem. Riding on the Sky train to class was stressful and when I heard "voices" telling me that "the train would crash in 5 min. and I would die a horrible death" that was not an easy symptom to live or deal with. Going to school was stressful but I managed to go to the classes, enjoy the learning environment and got my Mental Worker Certificate.

I have taken many courses through the community centers and the Vancouver School Board including Yoga, Painting, Writing, Aerobics and Weight-lifting. I've taken self-paced courses at Theo BC as well as the Internet Cafe' for the last couple of years. It's a social time for me and also encourages me to surf the net on my own home computers.

Several really wonderful friends have enriched my life. Making and keeping friends is hard work but something that is fun and rewarding. We go for long walks along the beach, out for coffees and have pleasant conversations. While in between jobs, I have one part-time job right now. I had a wonderful job at a Senior's Center for ten years. I noticed a small ad in one of the local papers and applied for a volunteer position. That position worked into a small paying job.

Working with seniors was very rewarding. It is something I may go back to.

Over the years of learning about recovery I've learned a lot about myself. For example:

• How to work around my symptoms - with rest and medications.
• Taking baby steps and enjoying upbeat feelings when they come along.
• How to understand the word "balance" and how to have it in my life.
• How to say NO to toxic people.
• How to have enough money to last a month.
• How not to be too disappointed in myself when I try something and fail.

I've come a long ways from the frightened and withdrawn young woman who got thrown into so many cages when younger and who bounced between the hospitals to the streets for years. Hell, you'd be frightened too if you saw people in starched white coats coming at you with their weapons of fear and silencing - needles, restraints and shock treatments! People get treated better in jail than they do in psychiatric hospitals. The big bonus since getting housing is that I haven't had one hospitalization. I've had over fifty hospitalizations. This means not one hospitalization in the last dozen years or so! Too bad those doctors with all their "education" couldn't figure out what would help me earlier.

Is everything in my life great? No, and I don't pretend it is. I still experience rage, grief and pain over losing so many years of my life. I also experience the pain of my wounding. There are the wounds from traumas that brought me to the hospital in the first place and the "secondary wounding" from treatments. My life is a "mixed bag". When I have my "bad" days (they can be really bad) I tell myself "tomorrow is another day". Counseling really helps.

I have learned to look after myself on many different levels and in many different ways. My life is enjoyable and well worth living. Affordable housing has been the foundation in this process. I now have dreams for the future. This, to me, is recovery and personal transformation. Each day is different, like the seasons of the year.