TESTIMONIALS
PERSONAL CASE EXAMPLES THAT SHOW
UNMET NEEDS IN OUR COMMUNITY
"Due to restrictions in Title XIX funding and limited beds, our son sat in jail waiting for placement for over a month."
More accessible services would prevent this.
“An elderly man lives alone and is isolated after losing his long-time spouse. His children live in another city and all his friends have died. He rarely leaves his home and spends most of his time watching TV. He sees depression as a weakness and does not want to mention it to his doctor.”
As we age, a support system becomes more and more necessary.
“Each time our son was released from a program, he would relapse after a short time because there were no funds for a follow up program. Other cities have
such programs."
We need more services in Dubuque.
“We have nine children. Eight have professional careers. One child developed mental illness during his college years. Some of his siblings have a hard time understanding their brother and wonder when he will ‘snap out of it’ while others wonder if they, too, will develop the same condition.”
Mental illness is stressful for family members who need more information.
“As parents, we basically become case managers. We are not trained to do that. We worry that if we don’t advocate for our family, will anyone? We have the continual worry, ‘Who will take care of our child’s issue as we age and pass away? Will he really be taken care of by society?’”
It is an unnecessary worry for parents who should be able to trust that services will exist.
“Our son developed his mental illness at college, many miles away from home. He was too far away for us to pick up on his developing difficulties. Eventually, major problems arose and he was in crisis. If someone had been trained to realize this was an emerging mental illness instead of just college-aged activities, we could have avoided a lot of heartache.”
Support is so important for family who struggle to understand what is happening.