AMERICUS, GA (WALB) -
Georgia's plan to set up a better treatment network for mentally ill people has been delayed.
State officials asked a judge for more time to make improvements after a 2010 agreement with the US Department of Justice to make sweeping changes in mental health treatment.
Some aspects of the state system are working though.
Connie Rutherford suffers from Bipolar disorder.
"I was high strung at times, other times I was mean, other times I was secluded from people, because I didn't know what was going on with my body and my mind," says Connie Rutherford, Mental Health Patient.
She felt disconnected and confused, but that was all before coming here to Perry Wellness Center in Americus.
"They gave me that garden and said, "Connie this is your, do what you want with it, you can plant anywhere, you can plant anything," and I said, "somebody trusted me enough to give me a whole garden" it was just wonderful," says Rutherford.
She says her illness has significantly improved over the four years she has been here.
"I am more responsible, I am more alert, and I am more caring, and I care about myself, I love myself more, and I thank God more for a day, rather than waking up every morning and saying 'I hate to go through this day,' I'm happy to go through this day because I have got something to look forward to, I've got friends out here, we are just like family out here," says Rutherford.
It's these kinds of programs state officials want to set up to make improvements in mental health treatment.
"They are trying to find all different avenues they can to move people back into society, the people who suffer from mental illness, there are so many people out there who have mental illnesses, who have been locked away for years in the hospitals," says Stuart Perry, Perry Wellness Center.
And Rutherford sees the benefits of peer programs like Perry Wellness Center. She says growing vegetables has helped her cope with her mental illness.
"To plant a seed in the ground and know you put it there, and it grows to be a beautiful plant or vegetable, is a good feeling, just like giving birth to a child, and to know, I created this, I am not mentally ill after all, I can grow flowers, I can grow vegetables, and tomatoes, and people buy them, it is amazing," says Rutherford.
The state has released hundreds of patients from mental health hospitals and agreed to spend at least $70-million a year to house and treat an estimated 9,000 mentally ill people in need of assistance.
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