In response to Mike’s interest in my assessment of him, this is my view. Having known Mike since 20 some years, I have had the pleasure of witnessing some changes. In the course of my work life, I have dealt with many individuals suffering from chronic mental health problems, predominantly schizophrenia. Sadly, for the most part, the vast majority of these people are continually struggling to little or no avail in relation to the outside world. They have excessive amounts of difficulty in progressing on many levels that the rest of society tends to take for granted.

Mike is different. Here is a guy that although having been stricken with schizo-affective disorder in his early teens, he has an impressive amount of achievements to his credit. Though he had a rocky life in his teen years, it was due to his self awareness, maturity and perseverance that he has gotten to where he is now. After many painful years of refusing to face the reality that he would have this weighty problem for all his life, he finally fully embraced his illness and grew not in spite of, but somehow due to. It’s as if the illness was a wall hampering Mike’s progress in life which he somehow managed to channel the energy from it to help shrink that very wall to a more manageable size. In other words, because of the person that Mike is, he was able to convert (what to somebody else would have been insurmountable), into strength. In addition, Mike makes good use of his support network, never hesitating to get in touch with the appropriate or on occasion all in that network (doctor, community worker, sister, friends, etc.). By this action Mike is in essence nipping it in the bud before his difficulties overwhelm him.

To some, he could be considered lucky. But we all really know that you make your own luck. Mike has an amazing amount of energy and achieves a lot of good with it. He has a very organized and clear idea of where he wants to go in life, and he gets there.

It has been my pleasure and honor to have been working with Mike all this time and I hope to continue doing it for many more years.

John Stall
Social Integration/Placement Counselor
Forward House