Like most of us, Marty has seen challenges in his life, some that were tough to overcome.
Things like that can weigh on a person, so much so that it can feel near impossible to attack head on.
That was Marty, and to a degree still is, but these days, he’s got support and a safe place, which can make all the difference.
“Losing my job was traumatic even though it was five years ago,” he said, adding he also dealt with the loss of a loved one before that. “I think it was an accumulation of things where it wasn’t something I was aware of on a daily basis. It maybe just crept up.
“I didn’t really have anyone or resources to turn to.’
This day, Marty sits in a comfortable chair in a closed-door room at The Living Room in Oak Park, 816 Harrison St., which opened April 8 and is a free service operated by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Metro Suburban branch.
Dressed in a St. Louis Cardinals cap – though he chuckles when he says he’s a diehard Los Angeles Dodgers fan – Marty is in a good mood, because he’s confident that the Living Room in Oak Park has been a gamechanger for him.
“I was aware of La Grange and Summit having locations, and the living room concept was very appealing to me,” he said. “I live in Berwyn, three minutes from here, and just growing up in Oak Park, when I heard The Living Room was going to open, I was very excited for the opportunity.”
Open from noon to 8 p.m. daily, The Living Room in Oak Park is a welcoming space – clean, quiet, with meeting rooms offset right upon entry, in all honesty, similar to a living room. When arriving, you’ll likely run into Beck Beishen, a coordinator and trained specialist. He’s a soft-spoken guy who works with guests like Marty to help them by talking out life’s knotty problems that might be exacerbated by anxiety, ADHD, panic attacks and other issues.
But Beishen isn’t only a trained specialist.
He’s been in Marty’s shoes and those of the 35 separate individuals that have visited the location since April 8 – already a third of the total anticipated in its first year.
“It started in high school when my symptoms became more severe,” he said. “It was ADHD combined with anxiety. It went undiagnosed for a long time. After high school, things just kind of went down quickly, where I started to cope with the symptoms with what I was feeling at that time with substances and alcohol.”
That went on for 10 years, and by his mid-20s, he realized he was headed in the wrong direction. He entered a 30-day program that provided the tools to handle his challenges. What’s more, he realized he could take his mess and make it his message.
He decided he wanted to pursue a career in social services, and Friday he graduated with his master’s degree in social work from UIC. He’s planning to pursue a doctorate.
But the point is that there is common ground for Beishen and guests like Marty who come with a wide variety of struggles.
“Plenty of resources in terms of good advice, and I find that knowing that the staff has their own history with mental health and recovery, there’s been a relatability,” said Marty.
“There is just a natural connectiveness.”
The process of getting started at The Living Room is seamless. Walking in there is a short intake process that is compliant with HIPAA to ensure confidentiality.
“After that, we just sit down and talk to the guests,” Beishen said. “Why are they here? What are their goals? For each guest it’s different, and it’s about meeting the guests where they are at and then trying to help build that into a strength.”
Shelly Lustrup is the chief executive officer of NAMI Metro Suburban, and she said The Living Room in Oak Park – which is adjacent to The Drop-in Center at 814 Harrison St. – offers multiple recovery tools to help guests, which sets it apart from other living room-style models.
“It’s a community-based program that can be for both prevention and intervention,” she said, adding that “going to the hospital or the ER, where we know it’s usually not the best fit, oftentimes it’s overstimulating, it’s loud, long wait times.
“Instead, you can come to a living room and the team can work to help de-escalate, make any kind of safety planning.”
But consider that The Living Room team can facilitate a hospitalization if it feels that’s what’s needed.
In its short existence, there are many success stories, including Marty’s, and there will be many more, he’s convinced.
“I think immediate acceptance and nonjudgment, and a true engaged empathy for listening to your situation and offering different resources to help you,” he said. “Quite frankly, it’s free, it’s accessible. I came here the first time and I’m like, why not give it a chance?”
For more information about The Living Room in Oak Park, visit https://namimetsub.org/