I started Tellurian in 1971 and am so proud of how far it has come. In the 70s, a lot of the guys getting out of the VietnamWar were strung out on heroin so they'd go into withdrawal and society didn't know how to deal with that. It was hard for them to pull themselves together as they didn't have homes or parents, so they would end up backward in mental health institutions along with severely mentally ill people. I was appalled, working as a student at the time and doing groups with addicts and people with mental illness. I took the idea about a program to them and Tellurian was born.
What we've tried to do with Tellurian is reduce the stigma. We're way beyond where I thought we would be and am so proud of how much progress we’ve made. The stories and hardships that people bear are intense and it's been a privilege to try and help people. I want to listen for as long as I can. We're only here for a certain period of time, so why not make a difference?
In my free time, I like to play.
