Laura Kaponer is 1 in 5

Originally published at https://yourislandnews.com/a-service-animal-may-be-an-important-addition-to-recovery/ on Oct 2, 2019

Establishing a strong support network is a key ingredient in recovery. Typically, supports may consist of medical professionals, peers, religious organizations, family, friends, and even social media. 

What might be just as beneficial is thinking slightly outside the box, using animal companions as supports.

Veronica Morris, a founder of Psychiatric Service Dog Partners (PSDP), explains “Under the Americans with Disabilities Act three things are required for a dog to be a service dog. 1) The handler must have a disability. 2) The dog must be trained to do work or tasks that help with the disability. 3) The dog must be well behaved in public, because if it isn’t, the dog can legally be kicked out of the public place.” 

Psychiatric Service Dog Partners, founded in 2012, is unlike traditional service dog organizations because it is completely volunteer run by people with disabilities. Their mission is to promote the mental health of people using service dogs for psychiatric disabilities by educating, advocating, providing expertise, facilitating peer support, and promoting responsible service dog training and handling. 

The organization’s main avenues of support are an extensive website and a free online peer guidance group. 

Service animals are specifically trained to help a person with their disability whereas emotional support animals (ESAs) help their disabled handlers by just being there. ESAs are not allowed in public with the exception of flying, but are allowed in no-pet housing. 

Unfortunately there are several websites offering to “certify” animals; although they aren’t breaking any laws, there is no legal meaning in what they do. This is something people should be aware of.

It is because of these scams, as well as people claiming their animal companions are Service Animals when they are not, that actually make things even more challenging for legitimate service animals.

Morris faced discrimination with her service dog, Hestia, especially having an invisible disability. 

Public access issues can prove challenging. She was once kicked off a city bus by the driver who didn’t believe she had the right to have her service dog ride with her. This driver decided to communicate with all the other local bus drivers to refuse to pick Morris up. 

Morris experienced a panic attack, and she didn’t feel comfortable bus riding for months after the incident. Hestia is trained to intensely lick Veronica when she senses a rise in anxiety levels cueing Morris to utilize coping techniques to deescalate her symptoms. 

Secondly Hestia is trained to press off Morris’ arm and into her chest. This is called pressure therapy and has been shown to release oxytocin and serotonin to help mitigate some symptoms. 

If you have a disability that could be helped by a dog and enjoy dogs, then a service animal may be an important addition to your recovery. However, it is important to do the research first, as it’s a huge lifestyle change, can be expensive, and the proper training requires plenty of time and patience. 

See PSDP’s website www.psych.dog for further information.

Originally published at https://yourislandnews.com/fighting-my-brain-the-emily-vairo-story/ on Nov 13, 2019

In the eye of the storm living with a mental illness without a formal diagnosis or treatment is a scary and confusing time. Although she first starting experiencing symptoms when she was in 8th grade, Emily Vairo didn’t learn she had Bipolar I Disorder until several years later at the age of 22. She explains that she suffered in silence for a long time unsure what her suicide ideation and depression actually meant.

In the summer of 2015 Emily went through some of the classic symptoms of mania: excessive energy, irritability, grandiose ideas, losing touch with reality, hyper sexuality, and racing thoughts.

At first the people in her life thought she was “faking it”, but after the official diagnosis everyone quickly became concerned with her safety, health, and figuring out the best way to move forward.

Thankfully Emily has a strong support system of family, friends, NAMI, and medical professionals. Emily recognizes the important role she plays and that in actuality she is the only one with the capability to hurt her recovery through actions of self-sabotage. In taking a proactive role she has found a variety of healthy ways to manage her systems through yoga, cycling, cooking, journaling, music, photography, and remaining medication compliant.

Another choice she made for her health and wellness was to abstain from alcohol from the point of her diagnosis more than four years ago; it was because of medical advice she was given as to the adverse effects alcohol would have on her symptoms and medications.

Although she had challenges earlier on in her recovery, her first triumph came about seven months after diagnosis when she began working again. She admits it wasn’t easy to gain the confidence to put herself out there.

In her recovery she not only found herself again, but gained a passion for mental health advocacy. Emily began attending NAMI Connection’s meetings after publishing her story and leading a team “Aware and Unashamed” for the NAMI Walks.

From there she became more involved with her advocacy through NAMI as a facilitator for the Connection’s meetings, secretary of The Recovery Council, and a speaker for “Ending the Silence” presentations at local high schools. Her perseverance and strength of character did not go unnoticed as she received the 2019 NAMI S.C. “Recovery Member of the Year” award.

These days Emily has a level of self-awareness she didn’t have before, a much better understanding of her needs. This in turn has created more empathy towards others, not just those in recovery like her.

Without Emily’s knowledge of her illness she might still feel that sense of being empty and alone, she might not even be here today. Her story isn’t one of perfection or being a model citizen in recovery because she still has her struggles, but she works vigilantly to maintain a certain level of stability.

She lives by the NAMI Principal of Support “Never Give up Hope.”

Laura Kaponer is a mental health advocate and blogger, as well as a volunteer with the local chapter of NAMI. You can find her on social media by searching #Laurakaponeris1in5.

Originally published at https://yourislandnews.com/fighting-against-stigma-of-dissociative-identity-disorder/ on Jan 1, 2020

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What most know about Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is what they have learned from the media. The problem is these portrayals are grossly inaccurate further feeding into a dangerous stigma.

In 2016 the award winning thriller “Split” was released and the villain had DID. It’s easy to cast a villain with a mental illness as the media has done countless times and in all likelihood will continue to do.

The mentally ill as villains are easy scapegoats, as well as entertaining. The problem is this widely spread misinformation will be held by many as fact.

In response to this film, mental health advocate Scarlet Novak aka Amelia Joubert created a petition receiving more than 16,000 signatures and catching the attention of several news outlets. The petition was requesting that M. Night Shamalyan, the film’s creator, include a Public Service Announcement about DID with the film to off put some of the stigma the film had produced.

Unfortunately no PSA was created as Shamalyan ignored Novak/Joubert’s efforts.

Those with DID are not who you think they are. One way to receive an official diagnosis is with an extensive interview called a SDID-D administered by a mental health professional. This interview can take around 6 hours. Novak/Joubert remember theirs being quite exhausting.

This is a disorder stemmed from childhood trauma where the presence of two or more distinct personalities, commonly referred to as alters, recurrently take control of the body. Many may know this condition by its former name Multiple Personality Disorder. Alters often have their own names, ages, genders, etc. It is highly likely those with DID also have PTSD as a concurrent diagnosis.

It’s easy early on in the diagnosis to feel shame from the internal stigma. There is a need to stay quiet about what they are experiencing because the outside world’s beliefs can be that those with DID are violent. Once again a misconception continually portrayed by the media. The reality is that those with DID are more likely to become victims of violence rather than perpetrate it.

An essential part of successfully managing this condition is communication between alters as amnesia far beyond typical forgetfulness can occur. Novak/Joubert recommends alters leave one another notes such as in a designated journal to help keep track of what each alter is experiencing. This is called system communication.

Scarlet wants people with DID to understand, “Your alters are not your enemies, they exist to help you and although they be misguided at times, learning to work as a team can be very helpful.”

What people need to know when interacting with someone with DID is to validate their experiences and treat is alter as an individual. As more people in the DID community open up about their stories the public can become more educated. The world becomes less intimidating.

Note: Novak/Joubert currently resides in Rock Hill, S.C. and was the 2017 recipient of NAMI’s SC Stigma Buster of the Year award. They can be found at The Labyrinth System on YouTube.

Laura Kaponer is a mental health advocate and blogger, as well as a volunteer with the local chapter of NAMI. You can find her on social media by searching #Laurakaponeris1in5.

Originally published at https://yourislandnews.com/how-do-we-know-recovery-is-real-if-we-dont-talk-about-it/ on Feb 20, 2020

Peer Support Specialists (PSS) are not clinicians, social workers, or medical professionals, and they are not looking to replace any of these integral roles in an individual’s recovery.

A PSS is someone in recovery with either a mental health diagnosis and/or a substance use disorder hoping to join the treatment team in a collaborative-based approach enhancing the level of care an individual may receive.

Perhaps the best way to summarize is they are someone who “offers hope, support, and advocacy to others through his or her own shared experiences.”

Dave Pruett, a certified PSS, has more than 30 years in recovery. Like so many hiding from the stigma, Pruett came out of the “recovery closet” hoping to use his own recovery journey to help peers with their journeys.

Pruett took CPSS training on the state level leading to a career with the S.C. Department of Mental Health (SCDMH). Pruett is now the PSS Supervisor at Berkeley Mental Health Center with SCDMH.

Recently, Pruett received PSS certification nationally through Mental Health America.

Peer support isn’t a one way street. Pruett believes the work he does equally impacts his own recovery.

It’s important while working within a collaborative team to adhere to one’s area of expertise. Pruett doesn’t provide therapy or medical advice. But Pruett does provide an example of recovery so the individuals he works with can reach the recovery goals they have chosen using their own personal strengths.

Pruett recognizes he may encounter a recovery issue he isn’t well versed in. This is where being part of a team is most beneficial to the individuals he serves.

What makes Pruett’s efforts so effective is that he meets his peers “where they are.” This means the services he provides aren’t about forcing or promoting his own personal strategies. His method is to share what has worked and what hasn’t worked in his own journey.

Pruett will support the individual he serves with the freedom to make the choices that serve them best. The relationship between a PSS and their peers is completely voluntary. The individual in recovery is in the driver’s seat as the PSS sits right beside them.

Pruett also recognizes in order to establish a trusting and effective relationship he needs to foster a safe and judgment free environment.

Peer Support isn’t about creating one path everyone in treatment needs to follow. Peer Support is about tailoring individual approaches in an effort to address the specific recovery goals and challenges that particular peer is facing.

Pruett realizes he needs to achieve a balance between using examples from his own journey to build rapport while keeping the primary focus on the individual he is working with.

Peer support isn’t about fixing anyone’s problems, it’s about starting a conversation in hopes of reducing stigma and advocating for others in recovery to allow their voices to be heard.

Laura Kaponer is a mental health advocate and blogger, as well as a volunteer with the local chapter of NAMI. You can find her on social media by searching #Laurakaponeris1in5.

Originally published at https://yourislandnews.com/different-doesnt-have-to-equate-to-less-than/ on Apr 29, 2020

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a tricky beast. According to the DSM-5 – the standard classification of mental disorders used by mental health professionals in the U.S. – there are nine symptoms that contribute to this disorder.

At this time, only four of the specified symptoms are required to receive an official BPD diagnosis.

Countless symptom variations are possible. Each person with BPD may present in their own unique way. The exact symptoms an individual experiences may morph throughout the recovery process.

This is why BPD is such a hard condition to recognize and diagnose. Often those with BPD are mislabeled bipolar, PTSD, or another personality disorder. It’s entirely possible these could be co-occurring conditions. The root of the problem is the depth of misunderstanding about BPD within the community of professionals attempting to treat it.

Each symptom presents a unique set of challenges. Based on my first-hand experiences, I believe the symptom of distorted reality and unstable self-image has the potential to cause the most harm.

There can be this belief of friendships, romance, and belonging that don’t really exist. A person with BPD may not understand their behaviors are alienating and offensive. That person may truly feel their interactions with others are positive and appropriate. Often, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

One subset of this particular symptom is the inability to recognize social cues. What may be completely obvious to some can fly entirely under the radar for an individual with BPD. Someone may feel intimidated to directly address these negative behaviors. This is especially true if disproportionate anger is a co-occurring symptom.

More often than not, the behaviors of an individual with BPD can be distressing to those around them. Someone may choose to remove themselves from the situation entirely in an effort to avoid a possible ugly confrontation.

This is the perpetual cycle someone with BPD endures. I personally struggle with causing disharmonious environments. I am almost never aware that I am doing it. Those around me would rather not confront my behavior based on my inconsistent reactions. I can be receptive to constructive feedback or I can become volatile.

As my level of unawareness perpetuates, so do my negative behaviors. Sometimes I am not included in certain activities. Sometimes I am asked to stop participating in certain activities. Sometimes people walk out of my life entirely. I am left completely clueless as to why these things happened.

I feel blindsided because of my inability to recognize the countless signs telling me my behaviors are not acceptable. I honestly believed that what I was doing was fine. The majority of the time I think what I am doing is pretty positive. Even with the best intentions, my actions may not be well received.

This profound ignorance is a well versed downfall of those with BPD.

If a person with BPD sees, hears, and smells something, then how can it be untrue? Third-party perspective.

People, for the most part, are social creatures. I would like to believe people with BPD don’t take great joy in their alienating behaviors. I would like to believe with a higher level of self-awareness great strides in recovery are possible.

Unfortunately, some things may never change. Therapy, medication, coping skills, support systems, and the inherent desire to do better can’t offset disjointed neuropathways. A lamp with faulty wiring just won’t light up the way it’s intended or expected to.

An individual with BPD needs to reach a level of acceptance to recognize their own limitations. Different doesn’t have to equate to less than. More often than not, different is just different.

Laura Kaponer is a mental health advocate and blogger, as well as a volunteer with the local chapter of NAMI. You can find her on social media by searching #Laurakaponeris1in5.

Originally published at https://yourislandnews.com/no-matter-the-diagnosis-mental-illness-is-a-burden/ on June 17, 2020

I’m probably about to share a very unpopular opinion here, but for someone living on the “outside” of SPMI (Serious and Persistent Mental Illnesses) it can feel as if the challenges they encounter with their mental illnesses are trivialized.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual version V (DSMV) is often referred to as the “bible” when it comes to diagnosing the complexities of a particular mental health condition. The specific mental health conditions that fall under the SPMI umbrella exclusively include Major Depression, Bipolar Disorders, Schizophrenia and Borderline Personality Disorder.

What about the entire population that exists outside these parameters? Struggling is struggling. Pain is pain, no matter what the specific diagnosis. 

Those with anxiety, considered one of the “lighter” mental illnesses, can become crippled to the point where they can barely function. Because that diagnosis is not an SPMI does it mean their journey is any less difficult?

I think SPMI is a term that divides the mentally ill community. So many of us have the same challenges regardless of what diagnosis we have been labeled: medication merry-go-round, multiple inpatient hospitalizations, the insurmountable weight of both internal and external stigma and discovering the most effective symptom management strategies.

The primary issue here is that diagnoses are a key factor in determining both the treatments and benefits available to those with mental illnesses. From first-hand experience I can tell you that a diagnosis is more often than not a label placed on a mentally ill person with a best guess effort.

This is by no means discounting the difficulty mental health professionals face. Diagnosing any mental illness comes without clear cut tests such as an x-ray to indisputably say “yes, this is in fact a broken bone.” What these professionals face is having a 500-piece puzzle dumped on a table with the hope the pieces fit together in a way that makes sense.

To make things even more difficult sometimes pieces are missing, misshapen, or the box top is missing with no reference as to what the completed picture is supposed to be. The patient presents what they believe they’re experiencing. This perspective may not always be the most accurate, especially when certain symptoms are possibly misleading.

The divisive term SPMI creates an “us vs. them” scenario. There becomes this hierarchy of struggling; one journey is significantly more difficult than the other. 

Everyone with a mental illness is on the journey with a variety of unique challenges and circumstances. I would argue the level of resources to which an individual has access can have a far greater impact than what label they are wearing.

The mentality we should all adopt is using the symptoms instead of the diagnosis as a compass for which direction to take. The divisive nature of SPMI only makes this more difficult.

Laura Kaponer is a mental health advocate and blogger, as well as a volunteer with the local chapter of NAMI.

Originally published at https://yourislandnews.com/mental-health-resources-lacking-in-beaufort-county/ on July 15, 2020

One in five people will experience a mental health issue within their lifetime. As the population of Beaufort County increases, so will those with mental health issues.

Beaufort County is experiencing a massive shortage of mental health providers. Most of these professionals are in private practice and do not accept insurance at this time. Wait times for both private and public sectors, outside of crisis situations, can be months. What other medical field locally has that extensive a waiting period for debilitating and possibly life-threatening conditions?

Although there are three local hospitals easily accessible to Beaufort County residents – Hilton Head Regional, Beaufort Memorial and Coastal Carolina – only one of those hospitals has an inpatient unit for mental health patients for the general population.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kurt Gambla says,”Beaufort Memorial’s acute inpatient mental health unit offers an intensive therapeutic environment providing 24-hour nursing, medical and psychiatric care for adult patients who require a structured, safe space for crisis resolution and stabilization.” At this time this program is only available to the adult population with a 14-bed maximum capacity.

Recently Hilton Head Regional jump-started a program “The Cove” as part of the Senior Behavioral Health Unit. According to the website this program provides “Individualized short-term care … for older adults experiencing psychiatric symptoms …”

At this time the program is geared toward the population 65 years and older, but patients outside that bracket will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The supply vs. the demand for treatments at a higher level of care are highly disproportionate because the available resources just aren’t there. Often treatment needs are sought out of the area at such facilities as MUSC in Charleston.

Possibly one of the greatest gaps in service to the one in five Beaufort County residents with mental health issues is the complete absence of an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP). IOP is readily available across the country, such as MUSC in Charleston, and serves as a vital bridge between inpatient hospitalization level of care and individual outpatient therapy.

IOP is a step down program to teach transitional coping skills for living as a patient adjusts from life within a facility to life back within the general population. This service is usually provided with both full day and half day options.

Without such a bridge the drastic change from hospitalization to outpatient care can be very jarring to an individual’s recovery and creates a high likelihood of relapse. If it comes down to a matter of finances, a well rounded treatment program that builds the foundation for longevity of well being is far more cost effective than short spurts of various treatments that are almost always rapidly cyclical in nature.

Why are so many people with mental health issues continually being hospitalized one time after another after another? Because they are not getting the proper follow up afterward.

Most insurances only cover mental health inpatient hospitalization for an average of seven days. While seven days may prove effective to mitigate a crisis situation, it will in no way even begin to treat the underlying condition that brought the patient to the hospital in the first place. In contrast IOP programs tend to last an average of six weeks.

Laura Kaponer is a mental health advocate and blogger, as well as a volunteer with the local chapter of NAMI. You can find her on social media by searching #Laurakaponeris1in5.

Originally published at https://yourislandnews.com/my-life-after-covid-19/ on Aug 12, 2020

I have Covid.

I’m sharing my story in the hopes that those within my community will take pause and think about the choices they are making.

If I’m being completely honest, I thought it wouldn’t happen to me. I barely leave my home. I interact with very few people. When I’m in public I always wear my mask and maintain social distancing.

Unfortunately I live in a community where up until recently, precautions weren’t being enforced and many people were taking advantage of the lax atmosphere.

One day I felt perfectly fine and the next day I didn’t. I experienced feeling feverish without an actual fever, painful body aches, fatigue, and I had trouble breathing.

At first I brushed it off as another one of my sinus infections. Two emergency room visits later I was diagnosed with COVID-19.

People keep asking me if I know how I got Covid. I don’t. To me, at this point it doesn’t really matter. I’m sick and I need to do whatever is within my power to get better.

My symptoms progressed. In addition to what I was already struggling with I began to have trouble eating and drinking without nausea. Ironically my medications required me to eat and drink. What I could eat was extremely limited.

Living on my own meant I was the only one to get things done around my home. Even the most menial tasks required what seemed like an insurmountable effort. The benefit of living on my own was my minimal exposure to others. The downside was the depth of loneliness I felt most of the time.

Covid does something to you mentally I can’t quite explain.

I was thrilled when my quarantine period was officially over. Then I wasn’t. Being in public filled me with a paralyzing fear and anxiety. At this time I don’t feel safe outside of my home. There’s still so much about Covid we don’t know: the long term effects, how long symptoms last and reinfection possibilities.

Another question people keep asking me is if I’m “healed” or “better.” The simple answer is no. My recovery has progressed.

I’d like to believe the worst is behind me, but I just don’t know. I’m still struggling with certain symptoms. I have good days, bad days, and mixed days. I never know what to expect.

Mentally, I may never be the person I was before I got Covid.

What I can tell you is this virus is very real, painful and traumatic. Just one person making unsafe choices can create a detrimental impact on so many.

I’m taking my recovery one day at a time the best that I can.

Laura Kaponer is a mental health advocate and blogger, as well as a volunteer with the local chapter of NAMI. You can find her on social media by searching #Laurakaponeris1in5.