Big Head by Blake Wilder

Author:Blake Wilder [Wilder, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blake Wilder Books, LLC
Published: 2019-01-12T16:00:00+00:00

Seven

Lila

“So, we need to think outside the box,” I told everyone around the table. “Most of these people will be seeing professionals, either through community programs, or through AA and other similar programs and support groups. We don’t need to replace those programs, we just need to supplement them. We want to give them a little extra. Just like with the rest of the program. The way they are coming together to all be a part of keeping the place running. It’s nothing brand-new, it’s just something a little more.”

That’s what I liked the best about the whole proposal. There were, of course, a lot of shelters, food pantries, and donation centers where these boys and men could get what they needed. The basics could be covered. But this program gave them a chance to be a part of the whole thing in a new way. To be responsible. And accountable.

“What these people need is what everyone needs—a way to feel like they’re important and productive, a place to belong, and friends.”

It sounded simple, and I didn’t want anyone to think that I was downplaying the mental health diagnoses the men that would be a part of this program would have. But in reading through the program proposal, it seemed like they—Sebastian in particular—was making it more complicated than it needed to be.

“We’re going to give them friends?” Stephen Wilder asked. He didn’t say it sarcastically, but with curiosity. Stephen was a local pastor who was here to consult on some of the counseling and support issues. He’d also volunteered to recruit other local clergy to take turns providing faith support to anyone who needed and wanted it.

I nodded. “Yeah, pretty much.” I smiled at the frowning faces around the table. “I think what we need is a mentorship program among the people living in the center. They’re already going to be helping with supplies and maintenance of the building, right? So, they can help with maintenance of each other too.”

There was a scoff in the general direction of the CEO of the hospital, but Susan Wright leaned in and asked, “How do you mean?”

I spent the next twenty minutes sharing some of the statistics and program ideas I’d been reading about and added my idea about matching the program participants up in a buddy system. “Just having someone who checks on you and cares where you are can be huge,” I said. I knew this personally. The days after my partner and best friend had been arrested had been lonely as people tried to figure out what my part in the crime had been. Even now, after everything, there were people who I had considered true friends who I knew I’d never speak to again.

And going home to a lonely apartment, with no dinner plans, no weekend parties, no business lunches or conferences, was…hard. Since Sebastian had said that no one in the office could invite me for drinks or lunch, I was spending a lot of time alone.

“But

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