Homeless man starts mental health blog
Toolbox
By JOHN ZICCONI Vermont Press Bureau - Published: September 11, 2005
MONTPELIER — A Vermont homeless man has started an online community dedicated to sharing information about the troubled Vermont State Hospital.
Morgan Brown, who has lived homeless in the Montpelier area for almost a decade and uses public computers at several libraries, recently started an Internet blog dedicated primarily to the psychiatric facility in Waterbury.
"This is a very hot topic and there needs to be open discussion as well as a lot of public involvement, input and debate," Brown said. "There need to be forums to let that happen."
His blog has received some 300 hits since it was established two weeks ago. It can be found at http://beyond-vsh.blogspot.com.
Vermont State Hospital is a 54-bed psychiatric institution for Vermont's most severely mentally ill. It recently lost its federal certification over safety concerns — two patients in 2003 committed suicide — and the Douglas administration is now scrambling to find ways to close the 113-year-old facility.
A five-year plan is being developed that would relocate people who don't require intense hospitalization to as many as three community facilities run by area mental health agencies, while the state hopes to build a new, smaller hospital for those needing greater care somewhere in Chittenden or Washington counties.
Brown said he has never been a Vermont State Hospital patient, but that he occasionally uses local mental health serv-ices. He was a patient at a state hospital in Massachusetts before coming to Vermont in 1988, he said.
He said it is vital that people understand the complexity of mental health issues. He started the blog with the hope that various people will eventually form a research "team" and use the online tool to keep people informed about not only the state hospital but other mental health issues as well.
He also set up a comments section on the blog that will act as a chat room where readers can either post their observations or engage others in discussion.
"I want to make information more available," Brown said. "I'm hoping this blog will be one of the places people can get started finding information, and be used as a jumping-off point."
Jack McCullough, project director for the Mental Health Law Project run by Vermont Legal Aid, said the blog could be a valuable service to Vermonters and has already volunteered to contribute.
His first contribution — a short essay on the state's new preferred psychiatric drug list for Vermont state health programs — was posted earlier last week.
"There is a lot of public discussion right now about the future of Vermont State Hospital," McCullough said. "This seems like a way to have a public discussion a lot of people can participate in."
McCullough has known Brown, a noted mental health advocate, for about a decade, and said the 49-year old has credibility in the advocacy community.
McCullough predicted the blog will be as successful as those who contribute.
"A lot depends on who reads it and who participates," McCullough said. Whether state officials pay any real attention "depends on who posts and the quality of those posts."
After a quick scan of the site, Vermont Health Commissioner Paul Jarris said he welcomes its mission.
"I think it will be a good source of information and I have asked our staff to review it on a daily basis so we can be aware or some of the issues and questions out there," Jarris said. "Periodically I anticipate we will be posting things to it as we want to inform people about things that are going on."
Brown said he welcomes official input from the state, but he also hopes to find a state mental health worker willing to blog under a pseudonym so readers can get the inside story, not just the official state line.
Brown has been homeless most of his adult life. He uses his monthly Social Security check to buy food, do laundry and pay for the occasional hotel room, but he often depends on the goodwill of friends and acquaintances who allow him to sleep on couches, on porches and in cars.
"I'm very careful about not going into details about who or where," Brown said. "You have to be careful because they don't mind doing it for you, but they don't want a line out the door."
Brown said he learned how to use a computer through the help of librarians and children who frequented a public library he used when he lived in Barton during the mid 1990s.
"I got a Hotmail account to keep up with some people I know," Brown said. "Some of the little kids would come up to me — seeing I was having a hard time — and help me out."
He taught himself blogging skills, and now runs several Web forums. His primary blog — norsehorses-turf.blogspot.com — focuses on homeless issues but includes information about breaking news events like Hurricane Katrina.
Friends occasionally let him use their personal computers, but Brown primarily blogs on public terminals at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library on Main Street in Montpelier and the state law library in the Pavilion Building on State Street.
"Some days I'm not up to it," said Brown, who is unable to work due to disabilities. "But when I do it, I can average from two to six hours — sometimes longer — per day if there is something hot to keep up on."
Brown started the blog after reading recent editorials and op-ed columns in various newspapers criticizing aspects of Gov. James Douglas' plan to replace the state hospital.
Being just two weeks old, information posted on the blog is still limited. But it does contain several recent news clips, links to other state hospital and mental health sites, and a recently published op-ed column penned by Jarris.
The blog "will provide some balance to what is out there," Brown said. "The state has its own communication sites."
Contact John Zicconi at john.zicconi@timesargus.com
29