Flo is a person with bipolar disorder who was one of the earliest peer workers at Connections. She is now the director of the Connections Wellness Club and Peer Support Services, a job at which she uses her recovery to help others, and to break down the stigma surrounding mental illness. “When you have a mental illness, you’re kind of fighting for your mind,” Flo said. “You’re fighting for your life. But you can’t do it alone.”

Jennifer has spent much of her life in psychiatric institutions, dealing with mental illness and debilitating anxiety that led to hospitalizations. Now she is a successful member of the Community Re-Integration Support Program at Connections, which helps those with histories of institutionalization live independently. She loves living in the community and said it will stay that way. “I’ve done some changing – big time,” Jennifer says. “I’ve been through hell and back and I’m done with it.”

Donna was addicted to prescription painkillers for years when she had had enough, so she walked into the Connections Clinic in Sussex County and said, “I’ve been told that this is the place you go for help – and I need help.” That was nearly three years ago, and she’s been clean ever since. She loves being a person in long-term recovery. The small things, such has having money to buy things for her grandson, are her greatest joys. “If I ever had $20 left over before, I would have been making a phone call to someone with the pills,” she said.

Brian came into the Connections Withdrawal Management Center in Harrington several times before he finally was ready to get clean and sober. He is now an employee there, working as the center’s facilities manager. He also takes time to work in the role of recovery coach, speaking to clients one-on-one or in small group sessions. “I can be a father,” Brian says of the joys of recovery. “I can be a son. I can be a finace’. I can be a lot of things I couldn’t be before because I was locked in that addicted mentality.”

William has been going to the Connections Skill Center in Newport since 2013. The day program at the center provides a variety of training and services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. William now has a janitorial job, which thrills him and has made his familiy proud. He tries to help others at the Skill Center follow his path. “I just help them relax, take it easy,” William said. “The staff will help them, and if they need anything they can ask me.”

Gregory, a former Marine, was homeless when he came to live in Marcella’s House at the start of 2016. He eventually began working at the house, and is now a proud alumnus with an apartment of his own. He remains grateful to the Connections staff who run Marcella’s House and the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program. “I don’t know if it was God’s help or I just got lucky, but being (at Marcella’s House had been amazing,” Gregory says. I think you have to suffer as much as I did to enjoy the little things in life the way I do now.”

Charles was a nuclear biological chemical specialist in the U.S. Armed Forces until 1990. After that, he experienced post-traumatic stress disorder and homelessness. When he came to Delaware from New Mexico, he received services from the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program at Connections, and became a resident of Marcella’s House, our home for formerly homeless veterans, where he works as a peer specialist. “They can see the success of somebody who’s gone from completely down and out, to doing something,” Charles said of his role as a peer. “They look at their case managers like somebody who’s over them. But I’m equal to them.”