Hello, my name is Randy Conyers. I wrote the book. Mott’s Mind, my story of living with a mental illness. In fact, I am the 10th generation in my bloodline living with a mental illness. Living such a lifestyle, even while on disability, you can make a better quality of life for yourself and your family. The key is realizing Recovery is possible. It doesn’t mean you be healed or won’t have drastic setbacks. You keep looking toward the future, becoming an advocate and, when the time is right, an activist.
One of the hottest topics in mental illness today is the loss of hospital beds. I belong to a discussion focus group on the LinkedIn website. The title is “Where are the psychiatric beds in America, becoming a real issue in the communities.
It became a large issue where I live, in Oklahoma City, at the end of 2013 where 57 beds are closing in February 2014, stating there was not a need for the facility in their community, their area of OKC. 70 people are losing their jobs. It is a devastating loss. I have asked to be on the agenda for the next hospital Board of Directors meeting that owns the facility. So far, I have not been notified. But why should I? I’m not a famous writer, not yet anyway.
What influence do I have over a private company? What characteristics do I have that should be listened to? I have my story. I am an advocate and, at times, an activist. In Oklahoma, I’m a nobody. But there is always something I do. I ask. I call it making “The Ask”. You’ll never know what might happen by simply making an Ask. As long as you respect yourself, respect others and take responsibly for your actions, anyone will listen to you.
You can do anything, regardless of where you are at in your recovery process, just make sure you don’t care who gets the credit.
If your compassion is to see the restoration of mental health beds in hospitals, make it so. The largest impact comes from your state legislature. You will need to establish a relationship with your Representative and Senator. You will need to tell your story and establish an on-going dialog. You will be an advocate for mental illness with a focus on opening MI hospital beds.
Your correspondence will be replied to. You can ask to be put on the agenda for testifying before legislative committees, talk with the media, write letters to the editor and attend town hall meetings.
Changes for mental illness means new laws, laws amended and laws repealed.
You will find my comments in my book.
Besides having a strong genetics of mental illness in my life, I also inherited a compassion for politics, influencing people and having the character that relates to people, giving them a reason to believe in me and gaining a feeling of trust.
When you advocate for mental illness, you become part of the legislative process which, in turn, gets in to politics.
Your involvement can result in you running for a public state office. That’s what I did. “Everyone should do it at least once in their lifetime.”
I talk briefly about politics in my book. I share my high points and the lows, the stigma that goes with you as one living with a mental illness and a greater stigma being called a politician. If you carry a stigma monitor with you, pull it out after you have shared with someone that you live with a mental illness. See where the needle points. Tell the same person you are running for your state’s legislature. You would appreciate his vote and making a donation to your campaign. Look at your stigma monitor needle and see how higher it goes. It will probably go up significantly.
In my book I talk about reaching the recovery stage of taking action, some will like you while others will despise you. It’s amazing what a lady of 90 years can call you in one breath. Again, stories like this are in my book.
People’s belief systems follow the traditions of there family. Many have the same beliefs about mental illness recovery as they do on changing an area in society.
You must have a message. Recovery is important for every 1 in 4 people, based upon statistics from NAMI. Recovery is a must from PTSD in our military and those who were abused, rehabilitation in our jails and prisons to starting on an individual’s Recovery for those who should be at home taking their medications.
These issues are addressed as Jobs, Education and Health Care. 90% of questions and remarks you make will be made on the big three, Jobs, Education and Health Care. All are related to mental illness.
The key to talking on these subjects is to have a personal story on each issue and how important it is to solve these problems in the future.
“Everyone should do it at least once in their lifetime.”
Just imagine the number of prepared speeches that are on the top of your head right now.
Start your journal today. Give it a title of “Recall and Recovery”.
Those are some things that may be of interest to you as, “Everyone should do it at least once in their lifetime.”
Thank you
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