JustIsyss

I worked for a program called the Adult Home Initiative as a Senior Peer Bridger (a team leader role). Peer means that I identify as someone who live with a mental illness. My former clients had “severe mental illnesses”. Some suffer from severe psychosis, and some are missing key cognitive functions. Some are unable to speak or communicate.

Below is the link on what an Adult Home is by the New York State Department of Health.

https://www.health.ny.gov/facilities/adult_care/intro.htm

Below is the link on how the Adult Home Initiative came about. The link explains the horrible conditions residents lived in, the abuse they suffered, the malfeasance from the state. Long before COVID19, the state failed these people. Some of the most vulnerable in society. This is a federal case.

http://www.bazelon.org/otoole-v-cuomo/

As you can imagine, the Adult Homes got hit hard!

https://nursinghome411.org/ny-nursinghome-covid-data/

My team and I lost 18 residents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have officially left my job! I am a very talented and determined person. The vision is clear. The goal is clear. The pathway is not. If we imagine a world where we are all free, we can imagine a world where we support people just to be free.