This must have been a difficult e-mail to compose!

From my licensed social worker, about three weeks after had me "voluntarily" confined to Elgin Mental Health Facility.

Hi Mark,

I know you have been through a lot since we last met.  If you would like to continue meeting with me, I could see you on Tuesday Dec 14th at 3pm.

Whatever you decide, know that I am wishing you well.

Suzanne

Since, to quote Tull, "I may make you feel, but I can't make you think," I replied with enough information to at least give her ticks of sleeplessness at night - for the rest of her life:

Thanks for doing the best you knew how

Try to learn from it and do better with your clients for the future.

Bi-polar disorder:  What is the etiology?  Nothing but behavioral standards.  The poor person labeled "bi-polar" has to fight like a trapped animal to escape the clutches of those who label.  Read Thomas Szasz.

Same goes for alcoholic.  We can understand the etiology of alcohol poisoning.  We can rarely understand the behaviour of one who has immersed themselves in alcohol for daze on end - walking around with a BAL between 0.10 and 0.24.  Their behaviour we find "unsettling," "frightening," "poorly considered," "rude," etc.  But from within the framework of the specific individual's historical retrospective, it might all be quite logical; and even if we had half a clue, we might come to the same conclusion.

These two (bi-polar, alcholism) are NOT medical conditions which can be treated by traditional western medicine.  Those so labeled, of course, ARE sick; but theirs is a sickness of the heart; a sickness of the soul; they have lost one or more of the three things needed to sustain life beyond food, water, shelter: (1) something to DO, (2) something to LOVE, (3) something to HOPE FOR.  When those three can be returned, to be seen within the clutches of possibility, THEN (and only then) will the afflicted person be able to remake themselves whole.

YOUR job, as mentor, is to help them see.

You can no more help me see, but, perhaps I can help you feel.

Be well; enjoy those small moments of stillness when the universe whispers, "the Lord of hosts is near."

Warmest regards, and profound gratitude,

Mark

(Thank you for your help.  I no longer need your assistance. You done did good kid.)