Dante's story
- Jeremy
- Apr 20, 2016
- 1 min read
Recovery is an on-going process. Check out Dante's story.
Dante’s story:
A man shares his story of recovering from mental illness and using coping skills to lead a productive life.
My personal story with mental health care concerns began at Wellstone in 2005. This was a traumatic experience for me and my family. Before I had my psychotic episode, I worked at UPS (Louisville International Airport location) full time for more than 12 years.
I was involved in my faith, volunteered at the YMCA youth programs, and attended Webster University to complete my dual master’s program (human resources and management leadership). My experiences with mental illness opened my eyes to the possibility that any of us could be afflicted with mental health issues.
Stigma was also a new experience for me because unlike racism, this new prejudice comes from all sides of humanity. I found myself hitting a glass ceiling at work real quick after my release from Wellstone. I was placed in a job position of isolation from my peers. I was encouraged to work odd hours (twilight from Thursday to Monday).
I believe my job had good intentions to protect me from direct scrutiny, almost like quarantine. I feel that most people believe that if you quarantine the mentally ill from the masses, the illness will not spread. Mental illness is not a communicable disease.
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