ASHLAND — Just in time for the holidays, a group of Ashland community members are sending messages of hope and holiday cheer to hundreds of patients at the state’s six psychiatric hospitals and several private hospitals.
The note cards with hand-written messages and original artwork were mailed Monday, Dec. 14 through a collaborative effort by Adult Advocacy Centers, Ashland County Mental Health and Recovery Board and the Writing For Recovery group at Pathways Peer Recovery Program at Catholic Charities Community Services.
“The holidays are a very difficult time for those who are hospitalized, especially during this pandemic. There is a sense of aloneness and loneliness, there is fear in what the coming year will hold for them,” said Diane Spore, who played a key role in the note writing campaign.
“The holiday messages are not just meant to send hope during the holidays, but to send hope for what 2021 will hold if you believe that the future can be bright, and challenges can provide opportunities for growth and change.”
Writers followed a template, intended to help them craft a trauma-informed, trigger-free message. The notes were to balance hopefulness and positivity with the realities of what it means to be hospitalized and the struggles associated with the pandemic.
About 1,100 notecards were mailed to the state hospitals. A poem, written by a local volunteer, was included with each of these messages.
Additionally, the notecards were sent to Catalyst Stabilization Unit at The Center for Individual & Family Services in Mansfield, Windsor-Laurelwood Center for Behavioral Medicine in Willoughby, Aultman Alliance Community Hospital and Ohio Health Mansfield Hospital.
“While I have not been a patient in a state psychiatric hospital, I have bipolar disorder and in the past, I have been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons. I understand what it feels like to be hospitalized, to feel alone, to be afraid, and to feel that almost everything is out of my personal control,” Spore said.
“I can only imagine, however, what it would like to be hospitalized during this pandemic when there are visitation restrictions, when patients are at risk of contracting COVID-19.
“The messages and poem were designed to bring a sense of hope, to let patients know that they did not walk alone, that they mattered, and that they were cared about and were not forgotten.”
Earlier this year, the group sent a similar set of notecards to the six state psychiatric hospitals.
The response was overwhelmingly positive, according to executive director of Adult Advocacy Centers, Katherine Yoder.
Patients and providers alike have responded with appreciation for the small act of kindness.
“These people took a lot of time to make us feel better. It made my heart feel better that someone cares,” one patient said.
At least one facility organized an event to correspond with distribution of the cards.
“We weren’t sure if our little event would be over in 15 minutes or last longer based on the patients’ response. It was a good half hour that we had together and with the remaining time they had, they had the opportunity to get outside,” a provider said.
“The patients talked about how nice it is to be remembered and how it wasn’t just words but through action.”
Writers found the campaign beneficial, too.
“This initiative has quickened my spirit to spread hope and perseverance to those who are struggling at this time,” said Stacey Roberts of Pathways Peer Recovery Program.
Spore said the project helped in her own recovery process.
“While attempting to bring hope to those who are hospitalized, I have held on to my own hope and continued to ‘believe,’ which can be very hard at times during this pandemic, when our lives are being transformed in so many ways,” Spore said.
The community can help spread holiday cheer, too. The Adult Advocacy Centers hosts Amazon wishlists on its website for psychiatric hospitals in Ohio. Each has contributed their own separate list of items they think their patients would enjoy while in treatment.
