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Michelle's Journey

Active Image My Journey into recovery cannot be told without some account of my struggles with mental illness. When I was a senior in high school, I lost my best friend to a terminal illness and fell into a deep depression. I went on to college and continued to experience extreme sadness and despair. Putting one foot in front of the other, I moved on with my life. I attended Montana State University on scholarship for one year. After completing my first year at MSU, I had an opportunity to attend at Texas Tech University where I graduated with Cume lade honors and a Bachelor of Science in Clothing, Textiles, and Merchandising. While I attended the University, I worked 35 hours a week at a major retailer and managed 15 credit hours in school. I was awake for days at a time and did not think much of it. After all, this was “college life”. I also continued to experience periods of overwhelming sadness and despair which I attributed to being separated from family in Montana.

History of CALM4us

History of Consumers Asserting Leadership in Montana (CALM4us)

Consumers Asserting Leadership in Montana (CALM4us) has been engaged in working as a group of mental health consumers to establish our own membership organization. Activities have included telephone and webex conferences to learn: about other state consumer organizations; to consult with national technical assistance centers; to discuss and write a statement of vision, mission, goals and values; and, to develop our ideas about what and how to provide information and support to Montana mental health consumers.

We have shared our expertise to learn how to put together a functional corporation and have had representatives at state and national conferences about mental health consumer issues. We have learned how to set up and use a Joomla driven website to give ourselves and other Montana mental health consumers a place to share our stories; ideas about wellness tools; personal responsibility strategies; self-advocacy tools; educational opportunities; provide a place where they can give and get support; learn how to build effective support systems outside of the mental health system; and, how to use the services provided by the mental health system in a way that they direct.

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