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Faucette's goal: Let people know it is OK to talk about mental illness (+ video)

Courier-Tribune (Asheboro, NC) - 8/16/2015

Aug. 16--Editor's note: The face of mental health has changed in the past 10 years, with the emphasis shifting from institutional care outside a person's environment to community-based treatment. This week's Focus takes a look at the collaboration of organizations and individuals to make that treatment more effective and accessible. Today's segments look at the Crisis Intervention Team and introduces the president of the Randolph County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI).

RANDLEMAN -- "This disease is no respecter of persons."

Becky Faucette, president of the Randolph County Chapter of National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI), is describing mental illness.

She knows what she is talking about.

Her son was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when he was 16.

"I knew that he was having some growing pains and thought there may have been some substance abuse but never found it," the Randleman resident recalled. "I got a call from his school one day, saying that I needed to come pick him up, that he is not well and that I needed to get him assessed. We had that done immediately and he was diagnosed as bipolar."

Faucette said that after her son, who asked not to be identified, started on medication, he told her that 'if this is what normal feels like, I've never felt this way.'

Several times, her son had to be hospitalized. Finally, the right medication, lithium, was introduced. For him, it worked.

"We still didn't have a good handle on how to help him," Faucette said. "After he was hospitalized for eight days, it was better. We attended a support group meeting and we were the only ones there who said what his diagnosis was. I asked the case manager there where I could go to find more about my son's diagnosis. This was in 1996-1997 and I was finally directed to the UNCG library. The librarian there gave me some materials to read.

"Time went on and I got up one morning to go to work and he was standing there with a piece of paper with a toll-free phone number on it. He had seen it on television when he was having one of his sleepless nights. We called and it was NAMI.

"They said, 'Sure, we can help you.'"

Faucette was directed to the Greensboro chapter of NAMI.

"One of the ladies there gave me so much hope," she said. "We took advantage of their 12-week program and then I was asked if I would like to teach a program. I said, 'Sure.' "

The mission of NAMI North Carolina is to provide support, education, advocacy and public awareness so that all affected by mental illness can build better lives.

Then Faucette met a retired social worker who lived in Randolph County. They talked and started the ball rolling to form a Randolph County chapter of NAMI. That was in 1998. From there she became a trainer and taught the Family to Family Education Program as well as becoming involved in support groups.

"One comment I think about is that it (mental illness) is treated like a hidden diagnosis," she said. "That is the stigma. "Unless you live with it, you don't understand. We tend to fear what we don't understand. When I offer my son's story, I get responses like 'that's terrible' or 'how awful.' I tell them that, no, it was a relief to know that it (his illness) has a name. Now that we have a name, we know it is a lifelong illness. It's just a matter of whether you let the illness control you or you control the illness.

"We would love to have folks talk about mental illness as easily as they do about diabetes, cancer or high blood pressure."

Faucette's son is now 35 years old, and doing well.

"He finally admitted to me that he had felt out of control since he was 12 years old and spent a four-year span hiding it," she said. "How could he know what was normal and what was not? As his parent, it was hard to know that he was going through it and not being able to help.

"It's not just getting the right medication, but also finding the right support group and the ability to get into counseling. Medicine can suppress the symptoms, but you need to have folks you can count on for support.

"My goal is to help reduce the stigma of mental health and let people know that it is OK to talk about it."

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