Please say “hello” to Debbie, a recent graduate of Sound Community Services. What makes this spotlight different from others we’ve shared with you, is that Debbie wrote her own spotlight!
Debbie has been a member of Sound Community Services since 2009, while being treated for major depression and credits the agency for providing exceptional support and healthcare services, including training and development programs that included: coping skills, building self-esteem, setting boundaries, benefits of short-term goal setting, just to name a few. She was a member of the Oasis, a social rehab center. Although Debbie has successfully graduated from all SCSI programs & services, she continues to be an advocate for the clients.
Debbie has seen many changes within the organization and is very aware at no other time, have they successfully maintained its Core Values of Compassion, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence within the entire organization, from the CEO to the clients and extending it to their family members.
Debbie’s New Year’s resolution for 2021 was to embrace her voice and use it for the betterment of self and others, and she has yet to slow down! Her adult son, Marcus is also a client at SCSI and a current resident in their Residential Housing programs. Both mother and son have benefitted from the many lessons taught by SCSI staff, such as: to remain active, inside and outside the agency within your community-vs- isolation from family, friends or others; to not remain in bed and get up if only to brush your teeth; to avoid making unnecessary and/or unhealthy choices while being treated and recovering from a mental illness(es) and/or addiction diagnosis: providing 24/7 crisis support services.
To say her accomplishments occurred overnight would be a myth! Each one, she will admit, was a struggle that took inward awareness, acceptance of love and support from others and SELF, and on those rare occasions, a visit from a staff member to her house in order to hold her hand! The payoff of these combined efforts is priceless and continues to exceed all that Debbie could ever hope for or even imagine!
She was honored by the New London County National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) Community Spotlight for November 2020, organizer of New London’s 1st inaugural Black History Month Walk down Martin Luther King Boulevard in January 2021, and successfully executed “Mystery Elves” Christmas project where along with a childhood friend, designed and deliver over 80 Christmas wreaths to non-profit residential houses within New London, in addition to parts of Groton and Waterford in December 2020.
Debbie continues to improve (with or without depression) and will remind others “mental illness is treatable and you do not have to struggle alone, help is available at places like Sound Community Services, that has contributed greatly towards a better life and a better version of who I am.”
Congratulations Debbie, from everyone from Sound Community Services, we are very proud of you!
