The impact of Duke O'Malley...

I believe that as we journey through life we come in contact with hundreds, if not thousands of people who make impressions in our lives. Then there are the very limited few folks we can usually count on less than one hand who make a lasting IMPACT on our lives. The type of IMPACT that will stay with us, until death.

Many of us can recall a grade school teacher, military drill instructor, or little league coach that will forever be engrave din our minds. These are the special folks that made that IMPACT. I can actually count on one hand these special people. Back a few years ago I had the opportunity to meet a young fellow named Duke O’Malley.

Duke was performing an intake for me into a therapy program I was about to enter. I recall walking into his office thinking, “I could like this guy, he’s an Irishmen and from all indications and the decor of his office he may have been a fan of baseball”.  Duke was the first person in my long twisted and confused journey into my mental well being that actually sounded like he cared about me. He listened to my story and actually stopped me from time to time and asked me to explain some areas of my life in more details.

I left that office that day feeling like I had come to the right place. I had been somewhat forced to go meet Duke and Company but he said “he didn’t care about that”. He explained how his program worked and said he thought I would fit right in. He was the first person in the field of mental health that explained that, “I would have some say in my treatment plan”. Wow that is what caught my attention…that is what made the IMPACT!!

I walked away thinking, “he has no idea what he’s getting into if he’s going to let a messed up person like myself be involved in my own treatment and allow me to take part in the decision process of weather I sink or swim”. Little did I know that the plan he had for me was going to start working. Now I walked out of the old broken down rented space that Duke shared with a vast number of mental health providers knowing that I may have found a home.

It’s been over five or six years since I first met Duke and we still get together from time to time to say hello and share my journey. He never gave up on me even during some of my darkest moments at the start. I find myself thinking of that first meeting more and more each day as I grow older. Sometimes I may not touch base with Duke and he always seems to know just when to call or send word through our mutual friend Sabrina to give him a call or stop down and see him.

So, as the St. Patrick’s Day holiday approaches, if you have a Duke O’Malley in your life who has made an IMPACT on you, take pause and tip your hat and say THANKS for being there when I needed you the most.