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 Mark works hard to maintain his mental health
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"I work about 30 hours a week, mostly doing floor care. There
are three of us living at the Rockets II. I just got back from up
north, on a family vacation." Life sounds pretty good for Mark
Wolff. It wasn't always that way.
Like most people who come to Tasks, Mark had never held a competitive job, or lived independently in the community. His family did their best to support him, but his mental illness responded poorly to treatment. He was also in trouble with the law. Since he turned 18, Mark spent half of his adult life in hospitals (1,468 days), and most of the rest in other institutions. Eventually he was committed to Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center for three years. While at AMRTC, Mark was treated with a variety of medications, without significant clinical improvement. Then, 2 1/2 years into his stay, he was started on a new medication, clozapine. One month later, staff reported Mark was more pleasant, social, and less hostile and delusional. "I think that made a big difference," Mark says. "After a while, things were looking good, and I was discharged and got into Tasks." Mark was 26 when he started the Lodge Training Program at Tasks Unlimited. Having been institutionalized most of his adult life, Mark had a lot to learn. Work skills, cooking, socialization and anger management were all part of the curriculum. Tasks' Consulting Psychiatrist Dr. William Brauer worked with staff at AMRTC to monitor Mark's medications. Mark continued to improve. In only six months he graduated to a lodge. Regular monitoring of his medication routine and physical health has been critical to Mark's mental health. At the lodge, there is a peer-monitored system for dispensing medications. Mark continues to see Dr. Brauer regularly, who orders laboratory tests and helps Mark deal with occasional side effects. Mark has been in the lodge program for nine years now. He is considered a leader at the job and at the household. He has not been hospitalized a single day since his discharge to Tasks.
My path to recovery... Lonely, unemployed, low self-confidence, feeling trapped...all realities of my life in the summer of 1990. I had worked as a "go-fer" (you know, "go-for-this, go-for-that") at a Twin Cities construction firm for a time, but circumstances led to hospitalization. I didn't return to the job when I got out. In October 1990, the winds in my life shifted favorably when I discovered Tasks Unlimited and I began a new path to recovery. I spend four months in the Training Center, then entered the Capitols Lodge in February 1991. One of the most telling and memorable moments in my early years at Tasks occurred at the worksite one evening, soon after joining the lodge, when I had become upset. Seeing my distress, my Lodge Coordinator checked up on me while I was doing a trashing route and invested 15-20 minutes listening to me, then sharing some observations and ideas. We talked it out and I came away with the feeling that I really had a chance to express myself and had truly been heard. This was a pivotal conversation - I could have gone either way - toward health or havoc. Thanks to this wise and caring coordinator, I entered back into my work with new energy and vitality. This is a great example of how supportive employment can bring out the strengths in people. It has been three or so years now since I embarked on a new venture: I joined a number of other Tasks clients in the Career Ladder Program. Career Ladder offers janitors at Tasks opportunities in moving toward managerial positions. When I first started in Career Ladder, I didn't know if I really wanted to achieve the top position - Manager for Tasks Unlimited Building Services - but I kept my options, and my mind, open. In 1995 I worked at the Army Reserve as a Crew Leader, the first rung of the ladder ("I'm doing well. Okay. This works..."). Next, in 1996, I was promoted, after apprenticeship, to Supervisor (Okay. More responsibility. More to know. I can handle it...). My biggest leap was becoming an apprentice manager at the Henry Whipple Federal Office Building at Fort Snelling. This was by far the biggest crew I had worked with (35 or so) and it is a huge building. My claim to fame in the purchasing end of my new job was that many months I ordered nearly 1/4 million paper towels! That's a lot of paper. Besides purchasing/inventory, my duties included production (route) management, safety officer, quality control, skill instructor, and more. I was, at times reluctantly, on my way to becoming a manager. I don't remember exactly when or why I decided, but as the course of my training and apprenticeship went on, I came to a decision that, indeed, I wanted to become a Manager. After a nine month apprenticeship and plenty of assistance, I was promoted to Manager on January 1, 1998. So far, so good. Another set of opportunities I have had in Tasks has been to perform one of my favorite challenges: public speaking. I have spoken many times to and for Tasks-related audiences. Whether speaking at the Fairweather Conference in Hot Springs, Arkansas, at MAPSE conferences, for Alliance for the Mentally Ill, or to the folks in the Tasks training programs, I have enjoyed it all. One of my favorite topics is "attitude" and how we have the choice, ultimately, as to what our outlook will be in any given situation. With my speaking experiences, I have been able to reach willing audiences about important and even life-transforming topics...this has been a very hope-filled, enlightening aspect of being with Tasks. As you can see, Tasks has been a very important part of my life for the past ten years. The skills I have learned at Tasks will be enormously helpful for future employment prospects as I envision a career independent of Tasks. Thanks to everyone for all the encouragement and assistance. Rich Melcher has been a Tasks Unlimited participant for eight years. Other accomplishments include his recent marriage and honeymoon to Costa Rica. |
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