Lakeview Center Behavioral Services : Success Story

A New Low

Clint Rayner is living proof that mental illness even extreme mental illness is not a life sentence to doom and despair. At mid-life, with the world by the tail, Clint's on-going bipolar disease suddenly overcame him. In a matter of 60 days in the fall of 1990, he lost everything: his wife, his children, his life's work, his fortune.

He voluntarily sought treatment at a state hospital, West Florida Community Care Center (WFCCC) in Milton, which is managed by Lakeview Center. In nine months there he made some critical discoveries about himself and his illness. As a result he was able to make some decisions that ultimately resulted in a new life advocating for others with mental illness.

Looking back, Clint believes that he had been experiencing bipolar extremes at eight to ten-year intervals from the time he was about 11 years old. However, because he was in exceptionally good physical health, and perhaps because of the can-do attitude he was born with, he was able to overcome each episode until he was 40. Then depression hit and hit hard.

A New Perspective

Working with a counselor, he sought help at WFCCC, where some people are admitted involuntarily for treatment and others are admitted voluntarily, as he was. "As I understood my illness, I made better choices," he says. As he recovered, he was able to "step up" to less intensive care while still under the Lakeview umbrella of services. He moved to a residential program, The Lodges, located on the Pensacola campus where people take increasing control of the day-to-day activities of life. Clint began to assist other people by serving as a dorm parent, then volunteering and later by working 20 hours per week as a peer counselor in another Lakeview program, Social Network.

An extrovert by nature, Clint realized that he enjoyed and seemed to have a knack for teaching others who were struggling along the same path. His increasing roles in volunteerism and peer counseling eventually led to an invitation to participate in a legislative effort to look at mental health issues from the consumer point of view. "I fell in love with this type of work," he says. He also realized that his life experiences and business experiences up to that point were gifts to use as he pursued a new path in life.

Clint returned to WFCCC in the fall of 1991, this time employed as a psychiatric technician. He continued employment with WFCCC for 14 years, during which he also served as advocacy coordinator with the Access Behavioral Health department of Lakeview Center. "WFCCC saved my life. Lakeview Center gave it purpose," he says.

A New Calling

In 2006, he responded to a new calling and moved to Tallahassee as director of a newly created division of the Florida Department of Children and Families called the Office of Consumer and Family Affairs (OCFA). In this role, he is a mental health advocate and consultant for the mental health community throughout Florida. Fifty-six individuals from across the nation applied for the position of OCFA chief. But there really was only one logical choice.

He has put his personal life back together as well. He is married, happy at work and has a relationship with his children again. "Recovery is real and achievable," he says. "I am living proof that there is reason for hope for anyone with a mental illness."

Clint continues to manage his bipolar disease much in the same way a person with diabetes must manage his illness for the rest of his life. He takes medication and watches for warning signs that he needs additional help and he acts on those signals. "It's your body, your life, you have control," he says.