|
|
Success Stories
Doreen Buttner, director of the behavioral health program for Family Services, says getting funding for her program is a continuing challenge.
By Dawn Caminiti
©2003 Republican-American
WATERBURY — Trisha Bouffard keeps herself busy.
She recently became engaged, she has a young daughter and she is working on getting her bachelor's degree in three years instead of four.
Hard to believe that when she lived in Bridgeport just two years ago she was taking five different medications for numerous psychological disorders and going from hospital to hospital.
"I don't know how many people told me that I was not going to make it," Bouffard said. But she proved them wrong. She got off the medications and moved to Waterbury where she found the Family Services of Waterbury.
"I kept calling everywhere and nobody was taking any patients,"
Bouffard said. "Family Services was the last place. I walked in because I was sick of talking to people on the phone." Family Services was overloaded, like many of the mental health services in the area. They told Bouffard that it would take three weeks before they called her.
She got a call two days later.
"It was a blessing that they called so soon," Bouffard said. She found out later that the reason was because she was a walk-in and after her evaluation she was considered a "crisis" case.
After two years with Family Services, Bouffard is putting her life back together.
"I feel like a normal person again and Family Services helped me reintegrate into society," she said.
Bouffard participated in weekly therapy sessions, part of the behavioral health program at Family Services. The program offers outpatient mental health services to adults and children, according to Doreen Buttner, director of the behavioral health program.
The program is funded in part by the United Way of Greater Waterbury. Family Services is one of 34 agencies in the Greater Waterbury area supported by the United Way. Each year the United Way raises money for the many programs and agencies it supports.
"We work with a very high percentage of impoverished people," Buttner said.
Getting funding for the behavioral health program continues to be a challenge, Buttner said. They accept third party insurance and they have programs for people who are unable to pay or are uninsured. "We do not turn away clients because of lack of insurance or inability to pay," Buttner said. "All someone has to do is call Family Services of Waterbury and they will get directed to an intake program or another program."
There are specialized group therapy sessions, including those for women struggling with depression and domestic violence. In addition there is therapy for couples, family therapy, play therapy and individual therapy.
According to Buttner, Family Services is one of the few agencies that still offers individual therapy.
The programs are heavily oriented toward family violence issues. "A lot of children are abused and neglected. They are removed from their biological parents and put in foster homes."
Bouffard was adopted when she was 5 years old. She has been in therapy since she was in the fifth grade and left home when she was 16. For eight years she was transferred to various hospitals, misdiagnosed and over-medicated, she said.
"If that's not enough to drive anyone nuts, I don't know what is," Bouffard said. She jokes about her past now, because she has gotten through it. "I amazed everyone in Bridgeport because now I'm this big successful case when no one thought I was going to make it," she said.
Since she came to Waterbury, Bouffard has stayed out of the hospitals and off all the medications. In January she will start her fifth semester at the University of Connecticut in Waterbury working toward a degree in social work, an area she has been interested in since childhood.
Bouffard said she takes credit for her success but appreciates the help from Family Services.
"It was the first place I had ever been that showed genuine concern for the clients. They were very willing to help people instead of hold them back. It is the kind of place I want to work, I want my clients to feel that they can make it," she said
To donate to the United Way, call 757-9855. To make a donation to Family Services of Greater Waterbury, call 756-8317
Back to Success Stories
|
|
