I was a young child, at least one or two years old. I remember seeing my mother standing over me. It was a warm feeling. I grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, where I had trouble with having a mental illness. For the most part, my years at home were good, until my first day of school, when my nightmare began. I saw hallucinations of cartoon characters and an image of a man called Jeramieh. He used to lie on my parents' bed. I thought that it would go away, but the older I got, the worst it got. At school, my days were dark. I constantly had to deal with cruel boys saying that I was ugly, stupid and four-eyed. I knew that something was wrong with me, but I didn't know what it was.

It wasn't until years later when I moved to Sacramento that I talked to my Aunt Dorothy about the problem. She took me to a psychiatrist and he diagnosed me with schizophrenia. I finally understood why the kids were always picking on me. But that didn't stop the stigma, because certain family members treated me like a basket case and threw me out to dry. They played mind games with me, treated me like I was stupid and eventually I ended up in the hospital. After the years of abuse from my family, I entered into a marriage that was weird and horrible. My husband started doing the same thing to me, making fun of my illness and abusing me. That went on for 16 years of my life, until I got fed up and left. I was in the Battered Women's Shelter when a nice woman came in and introduced me to Transitional Living and Community Support.

And from there I met a nice worker named Linda Jones. She helped me get into TLCS. She helped me get an apartment at the Bell Street Co-ops where I met Verna Alexander and Vera Chavez. Vera was very kind and very sweet to me and I got along with Verna and Vera. For two years I lived on Bell Street and those were the best two years of my life.

One day Lisa Tennison called me from Cardosa Village with a two-bedroom apartment for me and my daughter. I've been there for at least eight years. But I fell back into abuse once again because my husband kept going around trying to do things to get me kicked out. That soon ended when Laura Smith became the new manager. I've made a lot of friends with the mental health staff in different departments all over Sacramento, and made a lot of friends with the patients, because I'm a patient myself. My relationship with patients as well as with staff is great. I know everybody and everybody knows me.

I've come a very long way thanks to Linda Jones, Verna, Virginia, and Vera. Also Cora Richards and Al Johnson of Bell Street, who used to work at Cardosa Village, but now work at Bell Street. I love TLCS and the patients and the staff. We are one and we're going to stand as one and fight stigma and prejudice. We shall and we will overcome. With all that love and support, how can we lose? Oh I forgot one more person I'd like to thank for saving my home and she is Linda Vera's boss.

Editor's Note: The Sacramento Press editorial staff edited this article after it was published for grammar and formatting only.