The sadness and fear among mental health clients is palpable and poignant as they talk about the threatened closure of the Adult Day Treatment Center in Kalispell.

Because of a $1 million projected shortfall for Montana mental health services, state officials have proposed closing day treatment centers around the state as of July 1, along with other budget cuts (see related story).

Clients such as Glenda Bowman put a face on the human suffering not factored into the budget balancing calculations.

Bowman, a day center client for more than a decade,  depends on the center for the daily

 structure, including group therapy and a part-time snack-bar job, that keeps her out of crisis.

She recalls her life before she got daily access to the staff and client support at the center operated by Western Montana Mental Health Center.

“I was suicidal and crying every day when I first came,” she said. “Now, I’m absolutely fine — for 12 years and eight months.”

She and most of the clients get their medication boxes every Wednesday at the center.

But Harvey Norton, who suffers from major depression, said he gets his daily so he won’t overdose himself in times as tough as those he has faced lately.

“I recently lost my son and my mother,” he said. “If it wasn’t for the day staff, I would have ended up in Pathways [Treatment Center] or the state hospital. I get a lot of support from the day treatment staff and the clients.”

Jennes Smith agreed. Since 1996, Smith has depended on the center to help her through losses as well as facing the world. The stigma of other people reacting to her mental illness cut her deeply.

“I had such low self esteem,” she said.

 Over and over, the clients said the people at the center have become their families. Many, such as Krista Shaw, became alienated from their real family members who just don’t understand their invisible illnesses that often lead to drug, alcohol and other addictions.

“I didn’t get ill until I was 27,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot about my illness from group. The support I get from here is tremendous. I’ve learned to accept myself even though my family and my friends don’t accept me.”

Like Shaw, Pat Ely found the understanding and help at the Adult Day Treatment Center that her family was not equipped to provide. She first met psychiatrist Dr. Noel Drury about 33 years ago.

“They treat us as individuals — they don’t put us in a bracket,” she said. “This is my family, like the others said.”

David Gronley, who suffers from co-occurring illnesses, credits the day treatment program with helping him stay out of the state hospital — as well as out of jail — for 10 years. He said his family spent thousands of dollars trying to help him earlier in life.

“If it weren’t for this place, I’d probably be in prison,” he said. “I had a history of violence, drug and alcohol abuse and gambling. They helped me get off and stay off those addictions.”

Now he works at the center performing janitorial and maintenance work. Gronley has taken a leadership role fighting the stigma of mental illness through the National Association for Mental Illness.

“Now I have a apartment with my girlfriend and a job and I keep out of trouble,” he said. “Without it, I’d be at home drinking.”

Dianne, who didn’t want to use her last name, called herself the grandma of the group as a client since 1990. Her story echoes Gronley’s and the others.

“I was in the state hospital 11 times,” she said. “The center has been my whole life. It’s scary to think of it closing.”

Tom Krause, a client and now part-time van driver, takes a pragmatic view. He pointed to the daily cost of outpatient treatment as being so much less than the hospital emergency room, state hospital, Pathways Treatment Center or jail.

“That’s what I stand by,” he said.

The group spoke with one voice about how much it means to come and socialize with others in a climate of complete acceptance. With guidance of staffers, they gain the courage as a group to venture out into the community to dine at restaurants or enjoy exploring local garage sales.

The Adult Day Treatment Center provides the safe harbor where they, like the staff, monitor each other’s symptoms and provide a very special, human therapy.

“We give lots of hugs to each other and the staff,” Bowman said.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com