04/22/2026
🐝 Be Well Therapy is excited to share our first Mental Health Recovery Story. It is our honor to continue to work with Mary. We’re very proud of her determination and the accomplishments she has made over the past 20+ years that we have known her.
**All information shared in this post was approved by the client**
👏 👏👏We hope her story will provide hope and encouragement to others who cope with mental health conditions. 👏👏👏
🐝 Hello, my name is Mary Wolff. I am writing to share how proud I am of my mental health recovery story. For approximately the past two years, my psychiatrist has encouraged me to share my personal experiences of living with and managing my mental health in the hope that I would see myself in more positive light; as the successful, capable and responsible person I am now. After nearly 30 years of mental health treatment, I am proud to say that I now live independently, and I hope others will have a more hopeful outlook on mental health conditions after reading my recovery story.
When I was 13 years old, my mother attempted to take her own life and was psychiatrically hospitalized for two weeks. My father was an OTR truck driver and was rarely home, but when he was home, I tried to stay away from him as much as possible. I spent most of my time at my grandmother’s home. It was my safe space.
My Dad began physically abusing me at the age of 13. I was emotionally abused by him for years prior to physical abuse. He was also physically abusive to my mother. I was the third child of four children. He did not physically abuse them. When I was a senior in high school, staff at my school noticed bruising on me and contacted DCFS. I was removed from my home and placed in a teacher’s home for a few days while they investigated. I had to attend a court hearing and my younger sister testified that my dad had not been abusing me. I know now that she likely said that out of fear. DCFS determined the case was unfounded and I returned home. The physical abuse from my father continued until I was 18 years old. At that time, I attempted to leave home in my car, but my parents threatened to call the police and report the car stolen. I walked to a friend’s home, and she connected me with a shelter for abused women in East St. Louis.
I experienced homelessness for an extensive period, moving from shelter to shelter. During that time, I was also psychiatrically hospitalized on multiple occasions due to su***de attempts. After the third hospitalization, I was placed in a nursing home in East St. Louis for nearly a year and a half and then moved to another nursing home.
In 2003, I was given an opportunity to move to a supportive living facility in Mt. Sterling. MHCWI is an amazing place that provides clients with support and direction to develop independent living skills. I received psychiatric services, individual and group counseling, and support that taught me how to take care of my mental health and my daily living skills. I engaged in a program called WRAP, which was very beneficial in my recovery and provided me with hope and motivation to work toward living on my own in the future. I lived there for 20 years and took full advantage of all the resources they provided. During my time there, I had the opportunity to meet with a new psychiatrist. I have been seeing him since 2019 and have been on the most effective medication regimen for the past 7 years.
Dr. Gadson isn’t just an amazing psychiatrist. He showed me that he truly cared. He wasn’t just a doctor or a pill pusher. Dr. Gadson has done more than prescribe me medication. He encourages me to engage in other activities like exercising, breathing exercises, to continue working, and volunteer my time in the community. He reminds me that mental health conditions shouldn’t rule my life and that I am more than a diagnosis. He has shown me that I am stronger than my symptoms and I have control over how I manage my symptoms. Dr. Gadson is unique in that he always has a smile on his face; he makes you feel welcome and heard. He validates me and encourages me to be human and not focus so much on the negative parts of my diagnosis.
During COVID, I began to realize that I wanted to live independently. In May of 2022 I began working at this amazing job at a local restaurant that helped me give the confidence to continue working on my goal of moving out on my own. I remain employed there in the same position to this day. I have been able to maintain part-time to ¾ time employment and have the support of my community, my fellow co-workers, friends, church, and outpatient mental health treatment team.
I am diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Type. I am also diagnosed with Bulimia, which I have been effectively managing since 2012 and am now in full sustained remission. I am also diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder due to the significant trauma I endured during childhood. These mental health conditions are now being effectively treated by appropriate medications and treatment providers. Over the years I have learned that my mental health conditions don’t own me because I don’t allow it to consume me or my life choice anymore. I now live outside of mental health diagnosis.
The part of my recovery story that I am most proud of is that I moved out into my own apartment after 20 years of living at MHCWI. I hope that reading my recovery story will inspire and give hope to others coping with mental health. Everyone should know a life outside of mental health symptoms. 🐝
Mary Wolff
