Anti-stigma workshop in California addresses concerns about Psycho Donuts by people with mental illness

From the San Jose Mercury News:

Gregory Wild battled depression to the point where it almost cost him everything in his life. Since junior high school, he had been afflicted with the condition but was still able to build a successful career. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees, got his CPA license and started his own firm.

But in the early 1990s, he faced his fourth and most damaging bout with clinical depression.

"It started off slowly, but it totally knocked me off my rear end, and over a seven-year period I lost my practice, I lost my home to foreclosure and had to file for bankruptcy because I was so depressed I couldn't work," Wild said.

In recognition of Mental Health Month, the city of Campbell brought speakers such as Wild to the Campbell Community Center for a mental health workshop on May 28. Wild was among other speakers from Stamp Out Stigma, the Santa Clara County Department of Mental Health and the National Alliance of Mental Illness.

"There's been a lot about how society perceives mental illness. Consequently, we wanted to do some outreach and provide information to dispel that and also offer suggestions on the types of resources that may be available," said Councilman Dan Furtado, one of the organizers of the event.

Calvin Shelton, a member of Stamp Out Stigma, a nonprofit organization dedicated to dispelling myths and stereotypes about mental illness, described his struggle with schizophrenia. To this day, he refuses to be typecast as a schizophrenic, but instead sees himself as someone who suffers from a disease.

"I'm not at a loss on how society feels about mental illness," Shelton said. "We've been thrown aside since day one." Nancy Pena of the Santa Clara County Mental Health Department took questions about mental health issues in the county, and NAMI presented a video on its organizational beginnings.

Several workshop attendees addressed the ongoing controversy at Psycho Donuts, where mental health advocates have demonstrated against the Campbell shop's theme.

Campbell resident Brad Imamura suggested that there was an accountability factor missing from the issue at the controversial shop and urged elected representatives to act.

"We talk about stigma; there's social stigma, but we also have institutional stigma. I'm talking about the bureaucracies that we have, and I'm wondering if they're part of the problem and not part of the solution," he said.

Several audience members agreed with Imamura, saying that they've called city hall numerous times but have gotten little response.

Furtado finally addressed the situation after a discussion developed about what city officials are doing to reprimand the corner doughnut shop.

"I don't want this to pull discussion, but I'm certainly willing to discuss it," Furtado said. "Believe it or not, unfortunately there are certain restrictions as to what we as elected officials can do. If we could have legally restricted or stopped the business from some of their business practices, we would have done that."

Due to First Amendment rights, Furtado said there is a limit to what city officials have been able to do, although they have tried calling and sending letters to the owners of the shop, urging them to change the shop's name and theme.

"The law looks at things differently than what common sense might tell us to do," he said.

Residents, for the most part, agreed that they would not be having a mental health workshop or discussing these kinds of issues if not for Psycho Donuts, which is one positive result that some of them took away from meeting.

Hope Holland of the California Network of Mental Health Clients encouraged the audience to do something about stigma, saying that they as individuals can educate others.

"Unfortunately, the people that need to be sitting in this room aren't in this room," Holland said.