I am the Clinical Coordinator of a Community Support Program in WI, a program that treats people that have a severe and persistent mental illness. These illnesses include Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder (formerly, Manic Depression), Schizoaffective Disorder, which is somewhat of a combination of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder, and Major Depression. These illnesses can be very debilitating to the people that have them and usually involve many losses (friends, family, skills, future plans, etc.) and lifestyle changes (live in poor housing situations, sub-poverty income, etc). Some of these people also experience extremely uncomfortable side effects of the medication they take, such as significant weight gain with potential for diabetes, sleep disturbances, lack of motivation, extremely dry mouth or excessive drooling, and for some, tremors, etc.
The most serious condition that may arise due to long term use of these medications is Tardive Dyskenesia or “TD”. People can develop severe movement disorders which they can not control. One client who came to our program with a severe case of TD struggles with its effects daily. He will make strange gestures, grimaces, body movement, etc that are very noticeable. He is quite self-conscious regarding this and usually experiences anxiety to the point of being drenched with sweat when in social situations. Because of this, he rarely left the house or became involved socially.
To our surprise, we were able to convince him to try therapeutic horseback riding. Initially he was very anxious and needed to take a break every now and then. Now, however, he absolutely loves the program and has become quite a good rider. Over this period of time, he has begun trying a few different things here and there in the community. He has become more verbal, less anxious, and wouldn’t miss a class unless it became absolutely necessary. Watching him participate has been a wonderful gift to me, seeing the joy in his face and how much more light-hearted he has become. He has become more social; for example, going to movies with friends from our program, wanting to go out for lunch after our horseback riding class, etc. He agreed to work one day unloading plants from a semi truck and working with several peers. He surprised all of us by his willingness to jump right into this. We didn’t expect it. He did very good work and seemed quite proud of his accomplishment.
I felt the staff needed to know what a difference their program has made in one man’s life. He still has the strange movements, but his anxiety and self-acceptance level have improved dramatically.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your program and the miracles it can do. We have several other clients involved and they have all made progress as well. They love the variety of things they do in their classes, and are all excited to talk about it when they’re done. I hope this program is always available for our people. I can’t stress enough the value it provides for them – and me. I also can’t tell you how proud and amazed I am to watch them. This may sound “corny”, but it is one of my most joyful experiences in life and sometimes it brings a tear to my eye to see the courage these people have.
The staff at SMILES is beyond wonderful. They are kind, competent, and treat our group just like regular people. They don’t often get that treatment, so that means so much to them… they’ve told me. And the staff always tries to find ways to make things work. They’re awesome!
Thank You for reading this.
Clinical Coordinator of a Community Support Program
