1/29/2007 2:00:58 PM
By Danette Dooley
Posted with permission from The Telegram
January 19, 2007 -- Pam Heffernan has lived most of her 36 years feeling she was stupid. No one ever took the time to tell her that her difficulty in getting an education could be linked to her mental illness.
"I tried to get my ABE (adult basic education) several times, but I couldn't do it. I kept failing and dropping out. I just figured I wasn't smart enough," Heffernan says during a break in classes at College of the North Atlantic's (CNA) Waterford Bridge Road Centre.
For over three decades, the centre has been helping youth and adults with mental illnesses get the education they need to lead productive lives. Heffernan's mental illness hit at age nine. By Grade 7, she'd left school.
"Everything was pretty much downhill from that," she recalls.
"I tried to go back to school a few times, but couldn't pass anything. Besides, everybody thought I was just bad, anyways."
Things finally changed for the single parent when she was accepted at the Waterford Bridge Road Centre in 2005.
Graduating from the centre's ABE program in June brought with it memories that she won't soon forget.
"I remember saying, 'This is the best night of my life.' I took my children and my therapist to our graduation. They were the ones who went through it with me.
"And, of course, Donna (Kavanagh) and John (Kelly) were there, too," she says of the centre's two long-time teachers.
In addition to ongoing classes at the centre, Heffernan is also taking courses at CNA's Prince Philip Drive campus that will go towards the graphic design program she'll begin there in September.
"I did the art history course up at the college and I got 85 per cent. The teacher said I was an outstanding student. Now, that was said about somebody who was failing constantly till she came here," she says, her voice brimming with enthusiasm.
Heffernan's story is a great example of what can be accomplished when education and health combine to give individuals what they need to help them reach their full potential.
The Waterford Bridge Road Centre is a partnership between CNA and Eastern Health.
Both Kavanagh and Kelly have been teachers at the centre for over 30 years.
"When we first started teaching here, to a lot of people we were just known as the school at the Waterford. But for the last number of years, people are more aware that we are part of College of the North Atlantic," Kavanagh says.
There are 16 students ranging in age from 18-35 attending classes at the centre.
The objective of the centre is to help individuals living with a mental illness obtain their ABE.
"Oftentimes, a person with a psychiatric illness – their symptoms may have started when they were in high school and that may have caused them to miss out on a lot," Kavanagh says.
Students who have a high school diploma but feel that, because of their illness, their marks aren't an indication of their full potential, are also accepted at the centre. These students work hard on upgrading their skills, as well as their marks.
"If you don't finish high school, that's a stigma, and if you have a mental illness that's another stigma," Kavanagh says. "What's really common in everybody I've worked with is that they have really low self-esteem and low self-confidence."
A waiting list for admission to the centre confirms that the services are indeed necessary.
As in Heffernan's case, Kavanagh says, for many students the centre also acts as a bridge to post-secondary education.
"We're a small supportive setting here, almost like a family. So it's a big jump to university or other branches of the college system. But we can help them make that adjustment."
Kavanagh and Kelly have watched proudly as their students move on to successful careers. One student is now working as a lawyer. Another has chosen to study nursing. There's also an engineer and dozens of other professionals among the centre's former students, Kavanagh says.
One of the keys behind the centre's success is the multidisciplinary approach that's taken to ensure the students' entire needs are met. Assisted learning devices are made available when necessary.
As well, meetings are held regularly with social workers, psychiatrists, therapists and other health professionals involved with the student, Kavanagh says. CNA career counsellor John Edwards also spends time at the centre every week, working with the students.
Kavanagh was one of nine special education teachers to graduate from the first such class at Memorial University. Little did she know when she began teaching at the Waterford 33 years ago that it's where she'd carve her niche for her entire career. During that time, she's learned a great deal about mental illness and about what can be accomplished when the right services and supports are in place.
"We believe in our students' abilities. But we also recognize that they have a psychiatric illness and because of their illness, other people may not have had expectations for them. But we're saying, 'Yes, you have a mental illness but you also have much more to offer.' "
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For more information contact:
Roger Hulan
Marketing and Communications Manager
College of the North Atlantic
709 643.7721
Or
Tanya Alexander
Public Information Officer
College of the North Atlantic
709 643.7928