The Ampersand Empowerment Shalimar Center : More than Mental Health
Full-Person Fulfillment
is the next evolution in the mental health world. Mental health is good, but it is only one piece of life, and to focus on it without attending to the rest of life simultaneously slows down the impact of mental health work and may be out of touch with the full reality of life. Mental health does not exist in a vacuum and often there are very real circumstances behind clients’ mental anguish that need to change along with the clients’ way of engaging with those circumstances. In founding the Ampersand Empowerment Shalimar Center, I am creating a clinic that both embraces and goes beyond mental health. It will create whole-person health and actual fulfillment, rather than mental health survival, based in our Full-Person Fulfillment Philosophy that is the foundation of happiness growth.
Though now in its fundraising stage, The Ampersand Empowerment Shalimar Center will offer both mental health and other life-essential programs to people with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), Other Specified Dissociative Disorder (OSDD), and people who identify as Systems/Plurals ( formerly known broadly as Multiple Personality Disorder).
It will offer:
A refreshing rural location in a home-like, house-based setting with forested hiking trails, a fruit orchard, and campfire gathering, to offer both opportunities for traditional in-office sessions and delightful outdoors sessions next to a campfire, on a porch swing, or while hiking or relaxing next to a stream.
A community garden, horseshoes, badminton, community campfire, and more to offer social and nature opportunities, as well as events and community meetups at concerts and festivals and dinners out. We want to make wellness truly enjoyable, a celebration of life, encouraging clients to engage in multiple wellness activities at the Center in one day.
Trauma and Attachment Wounding Therapy- Licensed clinicians providing EMDR, Progressive Counting, DNMS, psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP), and narrative therapy choices available.
Peer Specialist Services- the highly effective eye-to-eye, nonjudgmental support of someone who’s been there- a Peer is someone with their own lived experience of mental illness, addiction or trauma recovery and can now guide others on their journey with the wisdom of the school of hard knocks.
Founded in principles of neurodiversity, strengths-based thinking, unconditional positive regard, and person-centeredness, we focus on Plurality’s strengths and weaknesses while embracing it as a valid and valuable facet of humanity. People are not disorders or diagnoses here, they are people. The medical model of disease is trampled in our celebration of strengths!
Interactive support groups and life trainings covering all facets Full Person Fulfilment as led by community leaders and tailored to people experiencing mental health challenges, we will have offerings such as financial education and budgeting, eating healthy on a budget, intro to the world’s spiritual traditions, low cost and free legal services, tenant rights, poetry slams, art experiences, how to make new friends, and so much more.
Traditional in-office, as well as telehealth and outdoor sessions offered.
Relationship Counseling that involves and supports the loved ones of Plurals. Love is an amazing growth catalyst, and yet loved ones can also hold people in toxic patterns. By working with everyone in the household we can help everyone grow together, understand each other, and support each other’s growth.
Why DID/ OSDD/ Plurals?
When I got my first DID client, I quickly panicked and sought to refer out to another therapist who had experience here, and was amazed and sickened to discover that there were no other therapists at the time who could meet my client’s needs. There were too few available to match up with his specific needs when insurance, scheduling, and other concerns were taken into account. This led to me leveling with my client and saying, “If you stay with me, we’ll be learning together” and discovering that I love working with Plurals. I also discovered that “over 70% of outpatients with dissociative identity disorder have attempted suicide; multiple attempts are common, and other self-injurious behavior is frequent.” (DSM-5, American Psychiatric Association, 2013). I’ve discovered in my own work that this number is so high not just because of the extreme, lasting pain of excruciating and ongoing childhood trauma and attachment wounding, but also because this population has so few places to go for expert support in healing from that. The resources just aren’t there and typical therapy is not as effective for their specialized needs. Plus, this may be the most stigmatized and least understood disorder, with Hollywood routinely making Plurals into monsters. Plurals can find friendship, dating, and family support to be difficult due to stigma and misunderstandings about them. They find themselves alone, both in their therapeutic and personal life, and this in turn creates struggles in their professional and other life domains. Their lives are needlessly difficult to the point that many would rather end it than endure it unsupported anymore. I seek to change that.
Additional Projects of the Ampersand Empowerment Happiness Growth Center:
DID/OSDD/Plural Peer Specialist Warmline
24/7/365 number supporting people needing resources, coping skills, insights and validation
Parente & Parente Found Family Project:
Creation of a website that connects adults who lack the support of their biological family with families who would love to welcome an adult child 18+ into the joy of belonging. There are many adults who have had traumatic childhoods and never knew what family meant, spend the holidays alone, and are reminded of what they’re missing out on on birthdays. There are also families who may want to open their arms to someone needing love in honor of the death of a child or simply because they have that room in their heart. No mental health diagnosis needed- this project is open to all!
Home Hospitalization
Many people who have trauma, autism, an LGBTQ+ identity, social or other anxiety, sound and light sensitivities, and other concerns find psychiatric hospitalization a more traumatic than healing experience. With its hard, loud, chaotic environment, lack of structure, fluorescent lights, and frequent interpersonal conflicts, a hospital can be a disturbing yet necessary to keep people safe while they are feeling suicidal. What if people who were in intense psychological pain, but without active intentions of suicide, could experience 24hr support in their own home, surrounded by their own comforts and loved ones? Volunteers would provide companionship and emotional support to people of any diagnosis in a mental health crisis while waiting for a medication adjustment to become effective. From laughing at a movie together to going for a stroll or doing arts and crafts, the volunteer would be there to monitor for safety and uplift and inspire.
Lyme Disease:
Trainings on the mental and physical symptoms of Lyme Disease and appropriate testing Symptoms of extreme anxiety, rage, depression, brain fog, fatigue, psychosis, OCD-like symptoms and disordered eating can all result from Lyme disease. People often end up having unnecessary and ineffective years in the mental health system due to misdiagnosis and a lack of communication between physical and mental health specialists that can be prevented through knowledge about this devasting disease. We will maintain a directory of people who treat/work with Lyme Disease so people can get help faster.