Our personal life was thriving and so was our work through Health Action Network, but while our family loved Wisconsin and the amazing people we’d come to know, we were all a bit homesick. Shortly after the Wisconsin Blue Ribbon Commission on Mental Health Final Report was published, we relocated back to our home state of California, this time to San Francisco.

Prior to the move, I was asked to give a talk at an event for the Bureau of Mental Health in WI, and during the Q&A session after the talk, I was asked what I felt would be the recommended next step in recovery implementation in the public mental health system. I replied that I felt a shared manual on recovery was needed, one that crossed stakeholder groups and applied to consumers and loved ones and staff. While it was a short response to the question, it was a BIG idea and I knew that.

The response to my answer is something I will always remember, as the idea was, ever so clearly, NOT well received by those in attendance and many, many (understandable) objections were voiced. I made it clear that while I did understand and appreciate the objections, I remained steadfast that if we were to share a common concept, and vision and objective,we ought to be able to share one common book. It seemed simple and straightforward, but I was careful to make it clear that it was my belief, my opinion and my response to one question at one Q&A session after one talk.

 

Please check back in a couple of days for The Wisconsin Days – Part Four!

Until then,

Kathleen