Rita, second from the left, spending time with some of her friends from The Well at the spring spiritual retreat.
Rita’s struggles with her mental health began nearly four decades ago. “It started when I had a baby,” she says. Her suffering from postpartum depression eventually led to a diagnosis of bipolar disorder—and a long and difficult path of dealing with a serious mental illness. It is with pain that Rita recalls being hospitalized and strapped to a bed due to the condition she’s dealt with for so long. Continue reading
Rita, Viola and Sharon always sit together. Viola is Sharon’s mother, and Rita is Sharon’s best friend. The Well Community is their meeting place. “Rita was my neighbor at the apartment building I lived in and invited me to come to The Well with her one day. She has been coming for years, but I joined about six years ago. We come here most days and talk to everybody,” Sharon says. 
About a decade ago, Anthony was a young man working for FedEx, loading and unloading boxes from trucks in North Dallas. But when he suddenly lost his job, something inside of him fell apart, he says.
Well member PT knows the challenges of both mental illness and homelessness well. Although he could afford to pay rent, when the symptoms of his bipolar schizoaffective disorder became more acute, it was hard for him to find a place to stay. “I didn’t have the sense to try to figure out a place to live,” he says. 
On just about any day of the week, you can find The Well Community member Burl Skipwith sitting on the front porch of Jacob’s House, chatting with other residents and calling out greetings to passing neighbors. “Skip” is 57 and battles