Knoxville Author With Schizoaffective Disorder Awarded Spirit of ADA Award For Inspiring Others

PRLog (Press Release) - Aug. 7, 2012 - Dr Dobbins book, What A Life Can Be: One therapist's Take on Schizo-affective Disorder, recounts her descent into this crippling mental illness as an Olympic hopeful  training with the US Ski Team at Lake Placid. She did not make it but instead spent years struggling to cope with her illness and to get an education. Despite periods of homelessness, time in jail and in psychiatric hospitals, Carolyn attained her PhD in clinical psychology from Vanderbilt.

During a 25 year career in which she hid her illness from friends and co-workers, Carolyn was a successful therapist and, for a time, a professional singer in Branson, MO. In addition to her practice in Knoxville, Tennessee, she is both a therapist and case manager for a nonprofit called The Philadelphia Prison Ministries which helps male parolees re-enter society

The Disability Resource Center in Knoxville (http://www.drctn.org/index.shtml) annually honors those members of the community for the work they do in demonstrating the spirit of the ADA. At the presentation ceremony on July 26, she was described as a person who "gave comfort in her empowering words, and her willingness to share personal challenges with humor and dignity."

Those present were also told that that she “is a professional who has opened her heart and mind by sharing her diagnosis and life experience in a book.  She helps us to see that with proper diagnosis, treatment, and support people with chemical imbalances can be employees, professionals, husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, and friends.  Through her personal story, she has had the profound and enlightening opportunity to break down attitudinal barriers society has constructed concerning people with chemical imbalances.   Dr. Carolyn Dobbins, thank you so much for your bravery."

Amongst the previous award winners is Governor Haslam of Tennessee.

Dr Dobbins is the second Bridgeross author with a serious mental illness to be honored. Earlier this year, Sandra Yuen MacKay of Vancouver and author of My Schizophrenic Life: The Road to Recovery From Mental Illness, was presented with the Courage To Come Back Award For Mental Health 2012 in British Columbia.  

Both books, What A Life Can Be (http://www.bridgeross.com/whatalife.html) and My Schizophrenic Life (http://www.bridgeross.com/mackay.html) are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, in various e-book formats and are distributed by Ingram worldwide.

Photo:
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