Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Seeking advice re mentally ill community member

[John Imbur (john_imbur]

I would like to throw in my two cents... this is not an easy thread and one 
that I am glad to see being asked... this particular woman's case is fairly 
extreme and since she is refusing medication and therapy, my sense is that 
she needs to be not in the community and ideally hospitalized.

I have had a housemate with schizo affective disorder (I think this is what 
you said this woman had)... if you look at the research (which I did before 
agreeing to take the person with the disorder into my home and my community) 
that can be described as a mild case of bipolar mixed with a mild case of 
schizophrenia.  This is not kids stuff, but it is also treatable in many 
cases with medication and therapy.  My housemate has lived in our community 
for over two years now and is actually living in a private apartment in 
someone else's house now.

While there has been some issues from time to time, nothing at all even 
approaching the extreme of what Earthaven is wrestling with... and herein 
lies my two cents... take in those with a serious mental illness with eyes 
wide open and contingencies if things go south.  Be sure that they are tied 
into some sort of supportive network of mental health care professionals... 
be fully aware of their history, incidents of mental breakdowns, and how to 
recognize manic episodes or psychotic breaks.

And realize that there are a ton of people out there with mild forms of 
mental illness that might not be so extreme, but can certainly affect the 
lives and sense of safety of tight knit communities.  And realize that it 
can be the network/fabric of community that help provide the supportive 
structure to help these people with managed and under control conditions to 
lead happy productive lives.

Imagine if you had a mental illlness that you managed with medication and 
therapy, but were completely shut out from regular society?  How isolating 
would that be?  I have been with enough partners over the year with clinical 
depression, anxiety disorders, and other mild mental illnesses and now this 
former housemate who has been such a great addition who has a much more 
serious but managed mental illness that I fear that in trying to sanitize 
and protect ourselves, we may end up throwing the baby out with the 
bathwater.

So do be careful, get educated, and particularly for serious conditions, set 
clear boundaries with expectations and consequences.  But do be open to the 
possibility of someone with a special need (whether physical or 
mental/emotional) to being in your community...

In community,
John Imbur
Shadowlake Village, Blacksburg, VA

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