Life after the Fairweather Lodge
Posted by: CCL Web Admin
2021-09-18 16:01
A post by Brendan Bayer
If you are new to the Coalition of Community Living (CCL) web page and our Blogs hopefully you have learned about what the Fairweather Lodge program is. One of the great things about being a lodge member is that you can be there as long as you would like to stay and successfully work & live with your lodge mates.
But what happens if you do leave the lodge? As an individual who is Bipolar & Border Line Personality disorder, I was able to find a lodge and was welcomed into the lodge. I lived there for 10 years with a good community of lodge mates. There were a lot of ups but some downs also, but my recovery was going very well. So why would I leave?
I met the love of my life while I was in the lodge and one of the first things, I told her was about the lodge and why I lived there. In her eyes that did not distract from who I was. We married and we had a house, thus the reason for leaving the lodge. Now I did not miraculously become free of my mental health diagnosis, but I was able to find what I needed, a support system like I had in the lodge.
It is never easy when living in the lodge or living with a support system but they both work and one thing that is said over and over is find your supports.
I have been out of the lodge for about 4 years, but I am lucky enough to be a board member of the CCL and able to stay involved in the program.