Helping Herself by Helping Others

Susann Castore made a career out of giving guidance and support as a high school guidance counselor. However, she probably did not know that her desire to help others would save her own life.

Throughout her life, Susann experienced 20 painful years of emotional, verbal and sexual abuse. She stuttered on and off for 17 years during her childhood. While working full-time as a director of guidance at a rural junior high school, she found herself unable to balance work and raise a family, while dealing with her unresolved issues of abuse. The emotional stress and abuse were major contributing factors that led to a mental breakdown in January of 1986.

From 1986 to 2002, Susann’s hospitalizations and relapses punctuated her life. She tried to commit suicide five times.

“[I was]in and out of hospitals, treated by a number of professionals, placed on a variety of medications and diagnosed with a number of mental disorders,” said Susann. When reflecting on this time, Susann calls herself “very fortunate” to have survived.

She was misdiagnosed with nearly 10 different mental health disorders, before finally receiving the correct diagnoses and medication for bipolar disorder. She recalls this experience as a, “painful road to recovery and healing.”

“During those years, many of the ADAMH agencies and professionals assisted and supported me during difficult times…as well as the suicide crisis line. As a result of their outreach, I was able to maintain hope on my road to recovery,” said Susann.

Susann says the single hardest part of her recovery process was to identify and learn to apply coping skills when problems arose due to her illness. Susann still encounters setbacks, but she has become more adaptive in confronting her problems and finding resolutions.

Susann has learned a lot from her challenges and set backs. Her advice to those who may be in the situation where she once found herself is to “Never give up! There is always hope!”

Also, she emphasizes the importance of reaching out for help and support, educating yourself about mental illness, and seeking out others who have recovered.

Throughout Susann’s ups and downs, one thing has stayed constant: her willingness to help others. She has found a support system in volunteerism. Susann is a Licensed Professional Counselor and is a Certified Diplomat in the American Psychotherapy Association. Currently, Susann is working on a project with the Ohio Council of Behavioral Health Providers: HopeScapes. They are unique, artistic creations utilizing an eight-step experiential process. Throughout the project, Susann will be creating HopeScapes at 160 sites around the state of Ohio. When she is not traveling to provider agencies around the state, she hopes to work with agencies in Columbus and create HopeScapes for people who are suffering from mental illness and / or substance abuse.

Susann has traveled a long road of recovery, turning her personal tragedies into other’s triumphs. For this, Susann has turned around the lives of others - not just her own.