Columns

In the private sector, being successful in your endeavors toward making money and achieving status are worshipped. The culture is often narcissistic, and it is all about promoting oneself and being the best at something. People compare themselves to others and try to see how well they measure up. People who've made a fortune are admired, emulated, and asked to do public speaking. In the private sector, ethics do exist. Sometimes they are overshadowed with the quest for more profit at any cost. But many companies are run conscientiously. Being an entrepreneur is generally a signal of status. And if a person can make their company successful, (which happens less than half the time) meaning the company is profitable and remains in business, more so. 

On the other hand, failure, and the inability to fulfill the requirements of a job are disrespected, and you are thought to be scum. If you feel victimized by your situation, you are punished for being the victim. Even if you call in sick one day, whether you're truly sick, you come under negative scrutiny. If you cannot succeed in a big way at something, you are looked upon as an object of ridicule. Money, power, and fame are godlike, and lack of money, lack of being "known" and lack of savvy, are the devil. 

The above is not always so. Many businesspersons have empathy. However, that doesn't get rid of the need to push aside a person who presents problems. 

Disabled people, especially those who seek work in one's company, are generally viewed as a nuisance to doing business. This is much more so if the disabled person is using an intermediary, meaning a social worker of some kind, to represent him or her. 99 percent of people in business want to hire a person who can do the job and who is his or her own agent, rather than someone who is deemed incompetent, or "special needs." 

Put this in contrast to how we are treated in the mental health caregiving system and in our dealings with government benefits. Success is presumed an impossibility. And when we make progress toward becoming successful, we are punished for it. 

In my past attempts at success in life, the primary cause of falling short has been me. Yet I want to say that the mental health caregiving systems don't do very much to help an individual who has lofty goals. Perhaps they assume we're having grandiose delusions. Mentally ill people find it much harder to succeed at something, partly because the care-receiving environment does not prepare us to fit in with the work world. 

The programs that prepare a young mentally ill woman or man to have a career are few and far between. Yet there are some, and for some they have had stellar results. So, I can't make a rule that says the mental health system is out to make everyone a failure or considers us no better than a herd of cattle. I may be apt to say that, but it would not be quite accurate. 

Community-based treatment is far better for us than living in a state hospital, something I've never done and hope to never do. My repeat hospitalizations have been caused by noncompliance with treatment and not by an evil government. Every time a person becomes noncompliant and relapses, they go down a notch in unpreparedness to succeed in life, because for success you need your brain. Relapsing is awfully bad for the brain. Many consumers make the error of thinking they're cured when they succeed in their job. This is a grave mistake. 

While some counselors who work in the system tend to reinforce victimhood, others are better and provide suggestions on how things could be made better. 

And, although the caregiving system has its flaws, it is the only thing that stands between us and calamity. We need the system more than it needs us. We need medication and other treatment, and we need government benefits. I would like to see more programs enacted that prepare mentally ill adults to move upward in our lives, whether we're young and fresh or older but can still learn new things. There aren't enough of these programs. And some, sadly, have been slashed due to budget cuts. 

Counselors are not to blame for the lack of success of their clients. The first step in succeeding at something is that we take responsibility for where we've ended up as of now.