Moving to Cali soon. Anyone from Cali? How difficult is it to get support for someone diagnosed with a Mental Illness? Any suggestions for easing into the Cali culture, the bay area specifically? I’m living in Nashville, Tennessee right now, my hometown. Have lived in NYC and Atlanta in the past.
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Big difference in those two places!
I hope you don’t smoke. There are some places in Cali where smoking on the street is even prohibited. I grew up there (in SoCal) until I was almost nine. I lived there again when around '95-'96. The weather is great in SoCal, and not too bad up north. I don’t know anything about mental health services there, sorry.
I’m from California. I was born in Los Angeles and lived there until I was 9 as well. I visited about 5 years ago and it’s pretty much the same as I remember it. You should try In 'N Out Burger if you don’t have them where you are.
If you don’t mind answering this question, where do you live in Nashville? I used to live there. Are you moving with your family?
I’ve heard that mental health services are sub-par there right now.
But seeing a bit of that area might be worth it though, i’ve only been to san fran once, it was awesome!
I live in the South Bay Area. I get up to San Fransisco occasionally. I could easily write ten paragraphs on how good California is. First of all, we have great weather. Our winters aren’t to severe, Spring is usually mildly warm. In the last four weeks, the temperature hasn’t dropped below 66 degrees and it has been mostly in the upper sixties. With support I can only relate my own experience. I’ve had paranoid schizophrenia since 1980. I’m 52 now. I have lived in many different cities in this area and I have always had a clinic I can go to in the vicinity no matter where I’ve lived. And they have ALL had support groups for people with mental illness, and some of them have different support groups depending how your level of functioning is. And the clinics have many therapists and two or three psychiatrists The population in California is very diverse, with many different ethnic groups. I have to laugh here. An old joke I heard goes like this: " What’s the difference between Los Angles and yogurt? Answer: Yogurt has an ACTIVE culture.
Anyway, in the Bay Area it’s not hard to fit in with our multicultural population.And I am fond of telling people who ask about California that we have EVERYTHING here. For sport fans we have arenas, where are local baseball, football, or hockey teams play. We have concerts with any type of music you could think of (within reason) we have MANY, MANY, restaurants, from fast food to elegant dining. When it comes to, entertainment, we have endless fun things to do.
But to get serious, the thing about the Bay Area is that housing can be expensive and hard to find, ESPECIALLY in the City itself. You probably ran into this problem in New York. But for mentally ill people we also have many kinds of different housing, according how the person is functioning. From independent living with a counselor ‘on call’ any time to supported housing where counselors are always there 24-7.
I’ve barely touched upon all our resources here.
We also have a very good public transportation system.You can catch a city bus just about anywhere or you can ride BART that is faster and goes directly to where the person wants to go, unlike buses that usually wind around streets to different bus stops. Here in California we also have many great natural wonders from beaches to mountains to lakes etc.
I drive a car myself, but for other disabled people we have a program called Outreach who transports disabled people to appointments, or work, or to the Social Security office. They will send a van to the disabled persons house and pick up him/her with several other clients.So whether you want housing, or a therapist, or a psychiatrist it’s good chance you will find one nearby. Good luck.
P.S. : Don't be afraid of earthquakes! Big ones are rare, and little ones are harmless and actually feel kind of neat!
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Thanks to everyone who replied. I am moving alone will be staying with a friend for about a year while I try to redirect my life Its been a very diffiecult year for me as an sz. Its weird because I thought after 8 years I would have more stability mentally and financially, I feel like ive been hustling backwards for the past 6 years so that’s why I’m moving and for a change of scenery. I’m staying in West Nashville right now, Bellevue…the town not the hospital…I don’t feel safe in this city anymore