Mental illness affects millions

SOUTH BEND Mental illness affects 60 million Americans, or one in four, every year, and 13 million people live with a serious mental illness. To help people better understand the issue, Congress established Mental Illness Awareness Week in 1990. Since then, organizations across the country, including locally, have recognized the campaign.

Oak Lawn serves 16,000 clients in St. Joseph and Elkhart Counties combined. The facility provides both inpatient and outpatient treatment options, including help from hundreds of case managers and therapists in the community. This week, the foundation partnered with area organizations to bring awareness to mental illness.

"It's important that we face it. That we make sure that we give people the opportunity to talk about it, that we provide them with the appropriate support, that if they need help we get them the help they need", said Matthew Lentsch, the Executive Director at Oak Lawn.

Lentsch and his colleagues want October 5-11 to be about talking. Their hope is to break the stigma and encourage more people who need it to seek treatment.

"We're very prone if we have heart surgery to show our scars. If we have a broken leg to go to the hospital, but not so much when we're not feeling well," said Lentsch. "Stigma is a major barrier for people getting help and wanting to talk about it."

Some have found the arts to be therapeutic to those suffering from mental illness, and a local man has made it his mission to cater to vulnerable populations. Matthew Stackowicz started The Darkroom Project in 2010, while he was living in Yemen. He used photography to help Somali refugees find their voice. He continued the project in South Bend in 2012 and has worked with ex-felons and the homeless. Now, he's helping those coping with various diseases to use photography to express themselves.

"It helps them explore different aspects of their life and what they struggle with and what they find joy in," said Stackowicz. "We help people tell their story."

For more information about Oak Lawn's services, click here.

To learn more about NAMI, click here.

Anderson is also working with several others to re-establish the Club House, formerly affiliated with the Madison Center, as an independent center. Club House is expected to open in the fall of 2017 and will provide outpatient services.

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Mental illness affects millions