Marcia Mathes' Recovery Experience
When my daughter was a small child we sensed that she was different from other children, but she was our first so we didn't know how different she might be.
Her first grade teacher was the person who helped us to realize that our beautiful little six-year old child was clinically depressed. Mrs. MacIlrath told us that six-year olds don't talk about death, our daughter's great grandmother had recently passed on and we assumed that was why she talked incessantly about death. With the alert sounded by Mrs. MacIlrath and the help we received from the school psychologist we began down a long road to find help for our daughter. Finding the appropriate treatment was a difficult task, but ultimately we found the medications and the psychological therapies that helped her grow to be the woman she is today. She is a vibrant, contributing member of society. She is starting a small business, she campaigns for candidates she believes in, and she has been named to the President's List at her college. Without the assistance of the school personnel, without the access to treatments, the ending to this story would be very different. Because of Mrs. MacIlrath and and all the people in the schools she attended, because of the new atypical psychotropic medications, and because of the availability of psychotherapy my daughter has endless potential and a chance for success.
I wish these things for ALL children.