The Beautiful Mind, a center for the mentally ill, works to educate about mental conditions and give therapy to those who live with them.
By BETH N. GRAY
Published May 4, 2003
[Times photo: Daniel Wallace]
Domenick Agostino, left, Margaret Terkovich and Frank Terkovich participate in an exercise class at The Beautiful Mind, a center that serves the mentally ill. The Terkoviches are volunteers at the center, and Agostino has been attending for the past four weeks.
SPRING HILL - Denise used to get up, eat breakfast and return to her room, where she'd hang out all day, doing nothing. The victim of obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety depression couldn't face the world.
Today the 40-year-old is out and about with a smile.
John, who grew up in a rural area and whose parents always kept him close, was overwhelmed by crowds and city life when he joined the Navy out of high school. And as the military piled more and more responsibility on the conscientious worker, he fell to sleep deprivation and job stress, ultimately diagnosed with schizoid disorder.
Today the 45-year-old honorably discharged veteran is conversing with peers and can't wait for math class begin.
Mo, who had risen through the BellSouth ranks from telephone operator to manager and supervisor, learned that her daughter was diagnosed with cancer. On her commute to work shortly thereafter, Mo found herself and her car in a ditch, with no clue as to how she got there. Incapacitated for seven years afterward with bipolar disorder, or panic anxiety, she couldn't even write her name.
Today in her mid 50s, she is the dynamic primary facilitator at the Beautiful Mind. Named after the Oscar-winning film about mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. and his battle with schizophrenia, it's a drop-in center, a sort of clubhouse. There those with mental illnesses can chat, exercise, play games, share snacks, watch videos, hear speakers, learn computers and take remedial classes to restore knowledge that might have been scrambled because of illnesses or medications.
The Times agreed to refer to Mo and the center's patrons by first names to protect their privacy.
The non-profit center's aim is two-fold: to provide a place for mental health consumers, as they prefer to be called, to socialize, and to educate the public about mental illness.
"I think they feel more comfortable with their own group," said Ginny VanNattan, who heads the family-to-family support group for the center. "They're with their peers. They don't feel like freaks."
"We're a lot more accepting of each other," added Pam, Mo's assistant facilitator who has battled schizoid-affective disorder and major depression off and on since childhood. She's now in her late 40s.
"Basically, we took people who were homebound, vegetating on a couch, and now they're learning social skills and interacting with other people," Mo said. "We've done so much in four months," she said of the center that opened in January.
Socialization is the second most important tool to improving mental health for those suffering a brain disease, Pam said. Medication is No. 1.
Those who attend the center must commit to taking their medicines, said Evelyn DeHart, president of the board of directors of the National Alliance of Mentally Ill - Hernando, which pays the rent and utilities for the center. Both the Alliance and the center depend on donations and fundraisers for their financing.
Most of the patrons are dealing with some type of schizophrenia, bipolar depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder or major depression. The diseases are mainly psychoses characterized by a loss of contact with their surroundings and a disintegration of their personality.
"Lots have two or more," Pam said. Some also have physical illnesses such as fibromyalgia or lupus.
The consumers are under care of psychiatrists, psychologists or therapists. But no professional caregivers are on site or affiliated with the center, which makes it special. "This is the first consumer-run center," Mo offered with pride.
Some mental health clinics and hospitals set aside social centers, but those facilities are overseen by providers. Mo mentioned such a center, where on opening day, staffers put out coloring books and crayons for the visitors.
"How demeaning," she said with a grimace.
Instead, at the Beautiful Mind, "I hope to give people insight into their recovery and make them productive citizens in the community," Mo said, noting that 16 attendees have signed up for classes on four donated computers.
On a recent afternoon as the facilitators spoke with a reporter, four people poked heads into the conference room over an hour to ask when math class was starting.
Mo and Pam are searching for volunteers who will teach other job skills to the 15 to 20 visitors who drop in on any given day. On Wednesdays, when the duo serves dinner, as many 50 show up.
Mo has another mission. "I am out to educate the community on mental illness. It's like diabetes or heart disease. It can be dealt with and (its sufferers) can be productive in life."
Many mental illnesses are the result of a hormonal-chemical imbalance, VanNattan explained. "Serotonin in the brain goes awry. It can happen anytime. You can go to bed fine and wake up the next morning (ill)," as was the apparent case with Mo in the ditch.
Does mental illness still carry a stigma?
"Ha!" VanNattan said. "Of course there is. They think if you're mentally ill, you'll kill somebody."
Added Pam, "They treat you differently."
She noted the center had been denied a site to hold a fundraising car wash by a big box store that has provided its outdoor spigot for other local groups.
"This is what we're trying to do, break the stigma," VanNattan said. Gesturing to the center's living-room style lounge where a half dozen patrons chatted over soft background music, she pointed out, "Look out there. There are a lot of happy people because they're comfortable here."
The center recently raised some $500 with a yard sale the patrons organized and staffed. The money will buy snacks and dinner ingredients and perhaps pay for repairs to some of the donated computers. With a growing clientele, the center needs folding chairs and tables.
What it doesn't lack is enthusiasm.
"I like to meet the people here. It gets me out of the house," said the now-grinning Denise.
At a glance
The Beautiful Mind, a drop-in center for adults recovering from mental illness and their families and advocates, is at 10554 Spring Hill Drive, Brothers 1 and 2 Plaza. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday. It is closed Saturday and Monday. Attendees dropped suggested names for the center into a hat. The group chose the Beautiful Mind, submitted by a peer, Gail, since deceased.
