A mental health panel discussion for Disability Awareness Days held Monday at Cal State Long Beach focused on educating others about mental disabilities.
At college campuses, “This is the population where mental illnesses first start to appear,” said Rachelle Ang, a case manager for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and Disabled Student Services. The Disability Awareness Days are a way to notice symptoms and to get help early.
The discussion, held at 2 p.m. in the University Student Union Ballroom, featured six panelists: Associated Students, Inc. President Erin Swetland; parent Tiburcio Maldonado, parent Cathy Williamson, Lisa Powell from the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, Nancy Foster, wife of Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, and Sean Zullo, executive director of Choices Recovery Center.
“[The panel] was all about education,” Swetland said. “We’re really hoping that education gets put into practical services for students.”
Swetland said she believed that if the event helped at least one person, the work was worth it.
Swetland spoke out about her experiences with eating disorders for the first time. She said during her junior year of high school she had anorexia, but decided to get help.
“I started to scare myself,” she said. “I started to see how my eating disorder in high school was affecting my family.”
Foster first came forward about having bipolar disorder last year with a front-page story in the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
“I’m glad I came forward,” she said. She thought that by letting the public know she has a mental illness, others would not feel alone in their experiences.
Symptoms, Foster said, started appearing two months after she gave birth to her second son. She told her doctor she “just wasn’t feeling well,” but didn’t expect to have a mental illness.
The disorder affected her day-to-day routine. She once experienced an intense anxiety attack while grocery shopping and had to leave before she finished, she said. Later, her children did the shopping because she feared she would become anxious again.
When she attended events with Mayor Foster, she would “just have to pretend [she] felt like a normal person.” She once had thoughts of tying bricks to her feet and jumping into her swimming pool, she said. That was until she thought of her family.
“My only thought: that I needed to be there for my children,” she said. “Every day is a blessing.”
Maldonado’s son was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 12. Maldonado, who spoke very little English at the time, did not know much about the illness and thought Tylenol was an effective form of medication.
Williamson’s son was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at 19 years old. She believed his symptoms, which appeared abruptly, were a sign of drug use. He is now 29 and hospitalized at a facility in Long Beach.
He still has delusions, she said. For example, he thinks David Letterman is his father, and Gwen Stefani and Gov. Sarah Palin are his girlfriends, according to Williamson. Williamson is currently involved with the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Powell, who has been working in mental health for 10 years, works with the county’s mental health department answering calls from community members who would like more information about mental illnesses and available services within the county.
“I just try to put myself in their place,” Powell said.
Zullo, who is bipolar, started having symptoms while attending UCLA in 1985. Eventually, he had to drop out after substance abuse interfered with his education.
“I started drinking and doing drugs,” he said. “That was the way I self-medicated.” After receiving two DUIs in one year, he realized he needed to get help with both substance abuse and his disorder.
“Unless I dealt with mental health, I was going to start drinking again,” he said.
Zullo said it is common for those with mental disorders to abuse drugs or alcohol.
The panel discussed several topics, including barriers that might stop those with mental disorders from getting help. The panelists noted there is a stigma about having a mental illness.
“Nobody wants to come forward because they’re afraid to be labeled,” Williamson said. Maldonado also mentioned that people might fear discrimination or feel embarrassed.
Deaka McClain, ASI secretary of students with disabilities, wants people to know that students with disabilities are regular people.
“They could be your neighbor. They could be in your classroom,” she said. “You don’t have to be afraid of them.”
The panel also said people need to be more informed about both the illnesses and the services available to the people suffering from them.
Powell said, “When people are sick or have a cold, they know where to go.” Despite how easily people can access information about mental health through the Internet and other sources, people don’t always know where to get help.
Williamson emphasized the importance of offering support if you know someone who has a mental illness.
“You cannot fix it, but you can stay with them and listen to them,” she said. She spoke of her son, who lost some of his friends after they learned of his illness. However, she said she first had to educate herself and that she “can’t be angry” if people aren’t informed about mental illnesses.
Deaka McClain encourages people to offer support as well.
“They may not want to be helped, but don’t give up,” she said.
Several students attended the event as a way to inform themselves.
“The point of view that they had was great,” said Rebekah McClain, a social work graduate student. “I wasn’t expecting it, but I learned a lot.”
Today CSULB is having an event called “Take a Walk in Our Shoes.” Members of ASI will pretend to have disabilities for the day, including blindness, deafness, mental illnesses and mobility difficulties from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., according to McClain. At 1 p.m., they will reflect on their experiences in the Anatol Center. Students participating in the event will be wearing nametags for the day.
“I feel it will be an eye-opener,” Deaka McClain said. She hopes that through the experience, students participating will better understand the difficulties that come with having a disability and other students will understand the perspective of a disabled person and treat those with disabilities as they would any other person.
“We don’t want their pity, we just want them to treat us like everybody else,” she added, though she does not expect anybody to react negatively to the event. “I would hope that they’ll be mature about it and not look at it as a game.”
A screening and discussion of the film “Darius Goes West” will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Anatol Center.
