As CEO of the Mental Wellness Center of Santa Barbara, I have had the privilege of leading local efforts to improve mental health in our community for 30 years. My experience and perspective are unique as I am not a clinical expert and yet am steeped in the many issues and challenges facing our clients and their families. I started off knowing so little about mental illness, and had such a limited appreciation for the ways it affects people. Over my time at the Mental Wellness Center I have had the opportunity to see firsthand how painful the struggles can be and how magnificently beautiful the fight for healing and recovery can be.
The understanding and acceptance of the experience of mental illness has radically changed as each of us has had to cope with our own mental health in a changing world.
Perhaps the biggest positive change in 75 years is the willingness to talk about mental illness, the acknowledgement that treatment works and the high standard of best practices aims to detect mental illness in its early stages to minimize the potential for disability.
