“Dear Pete” — the letter begins — “let me tell you about my son, John, and his struggles with mental illness.”
John began to first manifest his mental illness twenty years ago when he was only fifteen. The diagnosis bounced from depression to schizophrenia to schizo-affective disorder and everything in between.
John had been going to a mental health center but when mental health was cut by more than half during the Bush era, services dried up. He was left with no where to go. I was working as a physical education teacher and I began bringing John to school each day. He slept on a mat in my office. Gradually, his Clozapine began to bring about change and he stopped sleeping, and became a much loved full time volunteer at my school.