In the years before Larry found Guild, severe depression, PTSD, and unmanaged bipolar disorder had him feeling lost and hopeless. He was in and out of hospitals. He was trying and switching up medications to better manage his symptoms. Nothing seemed to stick.
“Even when the sun was shining, every day was cloudy,” Larry shared with us. “Maybe the sun was shining 365 days; I didn’t see it. Waking up in that state of mind, it’s horrible … I knew I was a better person than where I was, but I didn’t know how to get to a better spot. What I was doing wasn’t working.”
Everything began to shift in May 2014, when Larry and his wife met his case manager at Guild. Unlike other shorter-term mental health professionals who treated him more like a number, at Guild Larry felt hope for the first time in years.
“We’ve experienced other professionals, so it’s not like we didn’t have anything to compare it to. When you’re used to being let down, you stop looking, because you don’t want to get let down again. Everybody [at Guild] seemed like they cared,” Larry told us. “It felt wonderful. That was a big weight to be lifted, you know? And I knew it was just the beginning.”
Larry has been involved with Guild alongside his wife for nearly 12 years, including during multiple rounds of cancer treatments, and in that time he’s received support from several of our programs and resources.
“I remember one time in particular, [my wife and I] had put in for emergency assistance to pay the deposit for our move, and a couple of days before we were supposed to move, emergency assistance denied us. We didn’t know what to do,” he said. “Guild came through. There was no hesitation. Without that help, I don’t know what we would have done. I know we would’ve been in a shelter.”
Larry can also frequently be seen at our CSP Member center, visiting and participating in games and other activities with Guild clients and helping out at the center’s weekly Lunch With Friends events.
“I love to play chess. I’m real good. I play cards with other members. The main thing I like is shooting pool. I’m real good. And just by having a conversation, I can help an individual,” he said. “And I like to cook. I cook real good. My wife does, too. And I like other people to enjoy the way we cook. It brings great pleasure to me when we have Lunch With Friends and I’m a part of the cooking process. I get comfort. It makes me feel good when I see people light up, then I light up. That’s why I go to CSP. That feels good to me. And to know that I might be able to help somebody else with my experiences.”
Larry’s life today looks very different than it did in 2014. He has housing stability, a stronger support network, and the tools he needs to stay well. But what matters most is that he hasn’t had to do it alone. For more than a decade, Guild has been by his side through the ups and downs, offering consistency, compassion and community when it mattered most.
“I feel Guild is family, you know?” he said. “Without Guild, we could not be here. Look at the energy that they gave me, they supplied me with, and the resources, and just being a human. That’s what we’re supposed to do as humans: Make a world of difference.”
He added: “Guild has put me in a state of mind to have peace of mind. I wasn’t born rich. Financially, I’ll probably never be rich. I’m rich in so many other ways. And Guild has helped those riches be cultivated.”
Guild doesn’t just provide a service and step away. We walk alongside our clients for as long as they need — and sometimes even for years beyond that! — tailoring support to their needs as they shift over time.
