Pick It Forward
Malissa Gwaltney is a wonderful Park Center volunteer and has used her talents to create a way to raise dollars for Park Center and share her personal story.
As an artist and master jeweler, Malissa uses guitar strings and picks to create one of a kind pieces of jewelry to sell, with 100% of the profits going towards the support of the uninsured mentally ill at Park Center.
If you are a musician, we need your picks and broken strings.
Log onto www.pickitforward.com to see photos and purchase her unique jewelry!
Malissa's Story
January 10, 2007 is a date that changed my life forever. That is the day I net with the medical director at Vanderbilt Villages. This appointment was very importatnt because this was my family's last hope. You see I have Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD.)
I am from Evansville, IN. Like so many others with BPD I was deemed untreatable and no psychiatrist or therapist would treat me. The previous year my family and I battled with our insurance company to pay for the long-term in-patient care I needed, but were again denied treatment. So my Mom and I searched for out-patient care and Vanderbilt was the closest. Plus, my siblings already lived in Nashville.
I started telling the doctor my background: molestation as a child, a severe stomach disorder in high school, suicide attempts, self-injury, in and out of hospitals, Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT or "shock therapy"), gaining 200lbs from the medications, rape, and doctors and therapists who simply didn't care. I told him I am 24 years old and I don't feel like my life matters or is worth anything. What he said next changed my life forever. He said, "Can you help others?". Why hadn't I thought of that before? Yes, I thought to myself, I can help others and I know exactly what I want to do. I didn't want one more person to be denied proper mental health care just because they couldn't pay...and PICK IT FORWARD was born.