“In every story there’s strength” is this year’s Mental Health Awareness Month theme for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Dawn Blackburn, who receives services from CHD’s Park Street Outpatient Behavioral Health Clinic in West Springfield, certainly doesn’t mind sharing her story—especially if it prompts someone to seek help.

“I think there are more people who have mental health issues than we realize, and a lot of them are quiet about it,” she said. “They suffer in silence. So you have to act on your behalf. There are resources out there, but they’re not going to come knocking on your door. You have to reach out.”

She has PTSD from domestic violence, and it has taken its toll. When you factor in alcohol use disorder, the combination of mental health and substance use issues she has endured cost her everything: her home, her driver’s license, and two of her children, who have also benefited from our agency’s psychotherapy sessions. “I got my children back because CHD was so supportive of me,” she said.

At present, Blackburn is being treated by several CHD professionals: Clinicians Christina Calabrese and Christa Nunnally, and Recovery Coach Carrie Gagne. She also takes part in Rise and Recover, a 12-week CHD group therapy program run by Counselor Francesca Depergola and Recovery Coach Supervisor Matthew Johnson.

“No one should be ashamed to get help,” said Blackburn. “If you’re not ready for a group, you can still do one-on-one therapy.”

Blackburn cites the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) she received as a lifesaver. “You have to accept what you’ve been through,” she said. “You can’t change that. You can only move forward and learn from it. I’ve learned to make goals, know my triggers, and how to avoid them.”

As far as healing, she feels like she is in “the middle” of the process. “Next month, I’m getting my driver’s license back,” she said. “My goal is to get my own place again.”

She described herself, before she sought help, as a “functioning addict. However, now that I look back, I don’t feel that I was very functional. Dysfunctional was more like it. I wouldn’t be as far as I am without the help with the people I work with at CHD.”