Lasting Hope Recovery Center is Beacon of Hope For those with Behavioral Health Problems
Release Date: 04/03/2008
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OMAHA, Neb. -- The statistics are staggering - one in four families in Nebraska are affected by mental health issues . They are families where mothers, fathers, children, cousins or grandparents struggle with a biological condition that affects the brain.
Philanthropist and business leader Ken Stinson knows the toll it can take on a family. So does Rhonda Hawks of the Hawks Foundation. Her dad lived with mental illness. Their experiences and deep compassion became a crusade to provide others a lasting hope of recovery.
For Maggie Graham hope is everything. She struggled most of her life with depression that was never talked about and not diagnosed until five years ago when her life began to spiral out of control.
“My sister’s death really propelled me into some despair,” Maggie explained. “I knew my mental health was not good. I was very depressed. I was sleeping a lot. I was not going out. I refused to go to parties. I refused to have people, even family, come to my house. So there were some indications that things were breaking down.”
It was Maggie’s brother who first told her that she needed to get some help. Maggie, who was a teacher, said she went to her principal to ask for some time off. During that meeting, she says she had a psychotic break with reality during which, the depth of her depression became frighteningly clear. Maggie says she can’t remember much about those moments other than she told her principal that she wished she were dead.
That episode landed Maggie in Douglas County Hospital, which she said was not a good place for her. After a period of time, she was transferred to Alegent Health Immanuel Medical Center where she said she got help understanding her diagnosis - depression and bipolar disorder. In the days and weeks that followed, Maggie says she experienced a life changing experience.
Now a peer specialist who helps others going through mental health crisis, Maggie is proud of the role she played in the Lasting Hope Recovery Center. She was one of several clients who got the chance to help make the facility patient-focused.
“We helped design the rooms – we helped with the textures that they used, the colors that they used – where the beds should go. To make it inviting and non-sterile for any patients who need to be there.”
“When families walk in the door, it’s important they feel welcomed, they feel cared about, they feel like people are listening,” said Tom Hickey, executive director of Lasting Hope Recovery.
