• slide
  • slide
  • slide

Residential Counselor fights against mental illness

11/15/17 04:01:pm

janai.jpgJanaie Sandoval, Rogers–Oconomowoc, submitted one of the winning pieces in the essay contest for Rogers’ 110th anniversary, answering the question of how we are keeping Dr. Rogers’ vision alive today.

With such limited time and knowledge for mental illness, many of us do not know that battling a mental illness is just that—a battle. A fight that's going to need manpower and more time and space than just a small section of a hospital. A fight that’s going to need Rogers.

I am proud to be a new addition to the Rogers Behavioral Health System and since being here, I have seen that this is an amazing system that owns up to everything Dr. Rogers wanted it to be. The vision is carried out by the beautifully serene campuses, the amazing kind hearted and dedicated staff, and the motivation that Rogers instills in patients to fight for a life worth living.

I admire the vision of the Rogers Behavioral Health system and, in fact, If I could talk to Dr. Rogers and tell him how I am personally working to support his vision and keep it alive, I would tell him this: while the details are not important and will never be revealed, what is important is what I have learned from my experience with mental illness. I have learned that when mental illness hits a family, it hits hard, it is persistent, and it is relentless; sparing no one. There will be tears, there will be scars, there may even be blood. There will be sleepless nights, days or even weeks. There will be internal fights that come with victories, and many that come with losses. There will be bad days. There will be times where our patients think that they aren’t going to make it and even times when they’d wish they hadn’t. Family and friends of addiction will walk away from them, tell them to go, scream at them “I hate you!” There will be a time where the patient breaks and thinks “yeah, I hate me too.” Of course, there will be countless times where they think that no one will ever understand or be able to help them--and that, Dr. Rogers, is where I come in. I understand. I have an insight that many lucky people were not unfortunate enough to gain, and I promise to use my misfortune to help everyone who walks, runs, crawls, or is escorted up to me for help.

The beauty of my experience is that I will have this incredible, almost magical ability to understand and help our patients on another level and they will never even know how! My hidden knowledge gives me a secret understanding which holds the key to the alluring world of healing, where I will lead those who cannot yet find their own way.

My name is Janaie Sandoval and I wouldn’t want to fight mental illness with any army other than the Rogers’ army because I know that together, the patient and our team will fight their mental illness and we WILL win. 

Posted in

Related articles