Success Stories
David's Story
“The night I took my sixteen-year-old son, David, to the crisis center was the longest drive of my life. I knew he was in a blue mood but I never thought he wanted to kill himself. After he was admitted, we found out he had been using drugs to try and fight off what we now know is depression. No one in the family knew David was using drugs!”
“Our whole family is now in counseling, and David is working hard to be a good example for his younger brother and sister. I know in my heart of hearts that David would be dead if the crisis center hadn’t been there that night.”
Each night similar dramas play out all across Florida. David and his family were lucky there was a crisis center in their community. As our State has grown so has the need for crisis services. However, the amount of funding for crisis services per family in Florida is declining. This means too many families in crisis must wait to get help. Crisis and detox centers which are the heart of our State’s 24-hour response system for mental health, alcohol and drug emergencies need our support.
On behalf of all the families served by our community mental health and addictions system, thank you for becoming one of the 5000 Friends of Florida Families. Your pledge to 5000 Friends says you believe Florida needs to invest in emergency mental health and addictions services so that in a crisis every family has a place to turn.
John Massolio
I am the Consumer Affairs Coordinator for Florida Health Partners, Inc., and I have extensive experience in both the insurance industry and advocacy, self-help and consumer empowerment. I graduated from Harrison Technical High School in Chicago, Illinois, and went on to become an Agent and Officer with John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company. I spent 34 years with the company with documented outstanding sales, recruiting and fiscal management performance.
I was first diagnosed with Bipolar disorder over 27 years ago. At first I denied the illness as most people do. However, after a second episode, I decided that I needed to get some help. I found that reaching out to others who have experienced similar situations helped me in my own recovery and I sought out individuals who were also involved in self help and support groups and began participating in these groups. I decided that I wanted to other help individuals and share my experience with them. Full Story >>
My Journey on the “Road Less Traveled”
I had my first depression in 1971 at the age of 17. At that time, mental illness was not discussed in public and there was very little information in the media about depression.
I come from a family where my maternal aunt had paranoid schizophrenia and my father suffered from depression and alcoholism.As one of my psychiatrists told me, my mental illness was “in my genes.”
After this bout with depression, I continued to do well in high school and graduated third in my senior class of 304. Full Story >>