The Sept. 17 article titled “Riverview patient tied to killing and rape seeks release” was fear-mongering, as if the stigma people with a mental health diagnosis have to contend with on a daily basis isn’t debilitating enough. When the media sensationalizes this story, it plays into the urban-legend status that has followed this person around. He isn’t the Boogie Man.

I feel puzzled when I think of the extensive time this man has spent incarcerated at a “rehabilitation hospital.” As a taxpayer and someone in the helping profession, I have to wonder if Riverview Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center believes in rehabilitation at all, or if they’ve done research that shows people do recover. If Donald Beauchene had been convicted of a crime and sentenced, he would have done his time and been out on the streets for years. I’ve known Don for several years. On multiple occasion he has asked treatment providers, “What’s the proper treatment for my diagnosis,” the response continues to be, “There is no treatment for what you have.” That sounds incredibly hopeless.

Hope and unconditional positive regard are the foundation of psychosocial rehabilitation. LINC is a wellness center, not a club, that focuses on the strength of individuals and their ability to help themselves and change. We are here to support people in discovering a self-directed plan for recovering all areas of their life, regardless of insurance or not.

Please stop by the LINC Wellness Center on 38 Memorial Drive in Augusta. You might find out you are the secret ingredient to living well and discovering your hopes, goals and dreams.

Troy Henderson

Windsor