Hello: my name is Shirley Cockrell. I work for Southwest Solutions as a Certified Peer Support Specialist. I was one of the first people in Michigan certified to work with other consumers who have severe mental illness. I am Director of Go-Getters, a non profit drop-in center of Southwest Solutions. It has been a long road for me to get this far.

During 10 long and lonely years of manic attacks and anxiety spells, I self-medicated with alcohol.

Then I met Cathy Hess, a mental health consumer herself at Southwest Solutions. We became fast friends. Cathy told me about Southwest Solutions. She said their help had enabled her to get treatment for her illness and stop drinking.

Cathy had started the Go-Getters Program, a consumer run center, where people with mental illness or the homeless can get support.

Cathy finally got me to go to Southwest for counseling. I had suffered some violence in my childhood, and talking about this was like a physical burden lifted from my chest. Being diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, I realized that I had been suffering from mental illness for years.

Within 6 months of therapy and medication, I no longer had to drink to feel better.

Instead, I decided to do something positive with my life. Southwest Solutions was hiring someone to help Cathy at Go-Getters. I was given the job in 1998 and I haven’t looked back since.

Today’s theme for our breakfast is “Building Community/Inspiring Change.” I think Southwest Solutions exemplifies that theme.

Community support is very important when you have a mental illness or are homeless. After years of misunderstanding and battling personal demons, it is great to have a place like Go-Getters where we can understand, because we’ve all been down that road.

A place where personal losses are a shared reality.

We’ve created a family atmosphere at Southwest and Go-Getters, with compassion and positivity and creativity.

When you get help with basic everyday living, you are set on a positive path. Just getting a shower every few days, a cup of coffee and a hot meal…sets you on a positive path.

Getting your birth certificate, and then your ID and Social Security Card you are on a positive path. When people know your name and listen to and support you, you’re progressing to recovery.

All we consumers who run Go-Getters for Southwest are dedicated to this cause.

In the last 15 years we’ve served over 500 such folks. People who started out living in the street, and who progressed to housing, to counseling, and to recovery.

But now the future of Go-Getters funding is not so bright. Southwest Solutions funding has been cut and we don’t have the funding to operate every day all day as we would like. Our transportation was reduced so it is harder for consumers to get to counseling appointments. Within 6 months without help to get counseling, some of us will be in the hospital or jail for acting different.

So I’m very glad to see so many people of good will. I can tell you, we need help – we need donations, volunteers, and supporters like you.

We also die about 25 years earlier than average. So I don’t resent growing old. Many of my consumer family have been denied that privilege.

Growing old has given me the opportunity of my life – to be of service in building community for those with mental illness and the homeless.

Thank you for listening. Please don’t forget us.