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GOODBYE TO COLLAGE

A sad goodbye

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Wednesday, 17th June 2009 @ 1.10pm by  Dinah Dietrich

A VERY, VERY SAD GOODBYE TO COLLAGE, WHICH WILL BE CLOSING SOON. The building at 1328 State Street will no longer be ours. Collage has been there for a very long time, pushing twenty years. Collage started at the old Day Program location and then moved to its own building  where we have been going all these years,  

 

Since I am a long time member of the Schenectady mental health community, I have been attending Collage for all the twenty years. There were some times that I didn’t go, or took time off, but when I was ready to go back it was always there for me.  Collage has always welcomed me with open arms, no matter how long I was away or for what reason.

 

Collage was an invaluable place to go , a precious group of people. The staff there set the tone for the program, and the clients/consumers also added their  flavor to the mix. Holly Clark, always the Director, always said, “It’s YOUR CLUB.” She wanted the club to be ours, and to be what we all wanted it to be.

 

Holly Clark—THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS!! You provided us with a wonderful and safe place to go, a home away from home. Parting is such sweet sorrow, someone said.

 

On a personal note, I want to say that Holly and I go way back, twenty three years. And that I have always loved her. She is a wonderful and fine person and has contributed so very, very much to the lives of all she has touched.

 

Then, there is Mary Lou Stanley. She also runs the club, in her own way, different from what Holly does. She is a motherly and compassionate woman. Also called Lulu, she named the kitchen “Lulu’s Café.” In the past when I was sicker,  Mary Lou often brightened my days or helped me over a steep hump in my days or my life. Suffice it to say I survived those bad times and even recovered.  Thanks to all those who helped me, and to all those who helped everyone at the club.

 

There are several other staff who have worked at Collage, many of them who have also been treatment recipients as well themselves. This concept, hiring persons who are treatment recipients, is a very good one. Who else understands us as well as those who have been there?? A very big thank you to all.

 

When I feel sad about Collage closing, and many of us really do feel sad and sorry about it, for it is a loss….It does make me feel better to know that if I go to PROS, at 216 Lafayettte Street, I will see Holly Clark, Mary Lou, other staff from Collage, as well as many clients/consumers there. If it’s the same people it may well have the same flavor of Collage, at least part of the time.

 

It’s really the people who make up the program. It’s the people who made Collage. Those same people will be at PROS and if we go to PROS we will see them all. To get into PROS –To get involved –Go through your clinician or treatment provider.