First steps to mental health recovery at home

By Vivian Shipe KNOXVILLE, TN — Ever so quietly, she dropped her head to say a prayer for the young mother she was watching through the window. She could see the child was having a psychotic episode and the mother was frustrated as she tried to calm her young son who needed more help than she could get for him. The older mother closed her eyes and thought back over the years when she went through the pain of her own child’s mental health journey and the pain that the whole family felt over the years trying to get help in a city that had none. Lakeshore was gone and the only help lay hundreds of miles away in Nashville and Chattanooga. Now, she prayed, with the possibility of a regional mental health facility& coming into Knoxville, maybe, just maybe, the child struggling in front of her, could get the inpatient care he needs without traveling away from home and those who love him.& The memories begin to rise from the recess of her heart as she remembered the& collective effort of city and county, law and legislation to get the help available now. She thinks& of med pod four...