Guest post by author, Rossa Forbes. I wish recovery were simple and straightforward for people like my son Chris who have experienced a serious mental illness. Often parents speak about recovery in terms of getting their old son or daughter back, meaning I suppose that their child's personality, skills, and accomplishments before the onset of psychosis was pretty darn close to being as good as these things can be. Let's first examine If getting the familiar person back should

This guest post was written by Jeff Brain, executive director of Coach-Mentors. My experience with recovery is that as a connector - someone who has the privilege and responsibility of connecting people who are struggling with the help and resources they need. In most cases, I am hearing from and responding to parents or family members who are scared and feeling hopeless - concerned but unsure what to do to help their family member. It is a humbling and rewarding experience t

I took this photo today: a humid August afternoon in my backyard garden. I just spent an hour harvesting vegetables, batting at mosquitos, pulling weeds, chasing our free-range chickens from the garden, and dripping sweat. Abundance was a word that came to mind at the same moment of feeling totally overwhelmed. What the photo doesn't show is another 10 pounds of cucumbers in my fridge, a food dehydrator at-the-ready on my counter, a giant canning pot on the stove, and eggplan

Introduction In the summer of 2017, I completed a chapter as the founding Executive Director of CooperRiis Healing Community in Asheville, North Carolina. I have had similar chapters in the healing communities of Gould Farm in Monterey, Massachusetts, Gateway Homes in Richmond, Virginia and Rose Hill Center near Detroit, Michigan. My next chapter is as founder of Virgil Stucker and Associates LLC, where I serve as advisor to families in crisis because of the mental illness of