In August I answered an invitation from Virgil Stucker and Associates to submit a post to their site in anticipation of September being the month dedicated to mental health advocacy and suicide prevention themes. The request was open-ended: I could write on basically whatever I wanted to write about, and if I had any particular treatments that I thought others would want to hear about, they wanted to hear about those, too. I thought that was a pretty decent invitation because it didn’t filter what was considered “acceptable” treatment from “unacceptable treatment.” Anyone reading my blog this past year knows that I’ve been pushing Focused Listening, so if you don’t want to hear any more about this treatment, you can stop here. On the other hand, if you are curious to read different perspectives on mental health recovery from parents and professionals, you can find them on the Virgil Stucker and Associates blog.

Virgil Stucker has over thirty years of leadership experience in the recovery movement  (encompassing therapeutic communities and directorships of not-for-profit organizations). Virgil Stucker and Associates empowers mental health decision making for families and individuals facing issues due to serious mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, bipolar and personality disorders, schizophrenia and schizo-affective disorder as well as substance abuse.

Rossa Forbes reflects on where an open mind led her when she sought help for her son, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia.