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j- wkx- i v ww j wghn muw iuttwtmiloiiijr1ifxfyi tci ewi6mfcix issues thursday jan 25 2001 vt fefrsfec zr- wby a heartbreaking journey while chris declined anonymity for this story his- family situation prompted us to protect his identity by lisa queen tr ajw staff writer s a child chrissays he was routinely abused by his father at times chained by his ankle to the box spring he slept on without comfort of believes a positive attitude and a amattress sense of humour go handinhand 1 hedoesnt know how niiich his withcanng for the mentally ill early years contributedto his men- mark and hickie know society talillness which was diagnosed last views the mentally ill especially yearaspaoidschizophreniaand schizophrenics with suspicion s attention deficit disorder with from mental illness andor sub stance abuse heritage lodge a- privately owned group home funded by the provincial and regional govern ments is currently home to 20- mentally ill adults although the facility is licensed for 22 residents some have delusions of grandeur where they think they own countries said mark who staff photorob alary chris centre talks about his life as heritage lodge directors julie mark and mike hickie offer support chris suffered abuse from the time he was a toddler and lived for years in an abandoned house in toronto he found solace in the newmarket group home a place he and 19 other people call home i became jusrra loner i had a wall around me and i thought i was looneytoons he said i couldnt understand why some guys could be laughing and happy at home and i wasnt meanwhile deemed a-behav- ioural problem at school chris was put in special classes and shuffled from one grade to the next although he wasnt learning much hyperactivity- v v i know been- to keu and back chins story of homelessness hopelessness and substance abuse is a commonone for people suffer ing from severe mental illness but they stress in most cases the 1 concern is unwarranted patients are receiving propermedical care the owner of this home has had it for 10 years weve had maybe two violent episodes during that time mark said far more common than the according to julie mark and mike threat of violence is the fear schizo- ffickie the managers of phrefucswill attempt suicide newmarkets heritage lodge chris j58has lived for seven chris is a resident months at heritage lodge a home r pointing tqyork regions grow he credits with helping him turn his ing homeless problem theysaid a jjjg around but his journey to the disproportionate percentage are home is heartbreaking pppecorwgvrithmentalillnesses chris grew up m a smau town in isslgfepfe southern oritatiqtke eldest of five innorhmnlarhisorh dsdrenrbyalcbhojicparente ijfevyolatflinhkhousehold while i chris himself doesnt incidenthisriiother- hastold him about the first time his vvipepple officials could get informa f on appeared tb suffering became increasingly angry about- his life at home i didnt care if i lived or died i didnt care where my next meal was comingfrom at 1 1 heran away and somehow r contacted a social worker explain- ing the honor going bnin his home the worker visited the family but his mother forced herto leave the house chrisparents then turned the tables on him having the courts designate him an unmanageable child he spent the next year ina- grqup home t chris returned home for a year but ran away for good at the age of 14 he landed on the streets of toronto spending five years living in an abandoned house xhris parihandledsolddrugs guzzled alcohol and committed minor thefts to feed an addiction to speed which s him feel less hyperactive y v- ifmy whole life jwas wake up t gefoodifydu food youwoula get arugsv v while the house- chriswas a loner both because he didnt know how to interact properly with otliers and because others viewed him as insane because he was so frenzied one day in 1980 chris woke up and decided on the spot to leave toronto he had enough money for bus ticket to winnipeg so thats where he headed paranoid that the authorities would discover his identity and send him home chris continued his antisocial lifestyle of livingon the streets taking drugs and picking up the odd job if the paycheque was offered under the table i didnt care if i lived or died i didnt care where my next meal was icoming from eventually he drifted to calgary where he got his first real job work ing for a time as a labourer on an oil field he tried to clean up his life although he remained on drugs he married a native canadian girl living on a reserve in northern alberta but her family didnt approve of the interracial mar riage he left his wife chris met his second wife an alcoholic while he was seeking t treatment for his drug addiction at a rehab centre he had gone after seeing a child get struck by lightning in calgary chris believed the incident was a sign from god who was telling him he would be struck by lightning if he didnt go straight c remained off drugs for sever al years but he was having delu sions because of the schizophrenia jchris left his second wife just months before their baby was born taking up his old drug habit again he thenfound work as a carny with a travelling amusement park company when the show pulled into toronto his old haunting grounds chris decided to seek help again for his drug addiction he was admitted to the detox program at st michaels hospital last june chris found himself at porter place shelter for homeless men north of newmarket a worker at the shelter noticed chris unusual behaviour andrec- ognized the apparent signs of men- talillness j chris was referred to heritage lodge through which he is seeing a psychiatrist and was put on med ication 7 asked him to apologize to me for what he did- when i was a kid but he v wouldnt meanwhile twice in the past couple of years he has seen his father who is now on his deathbed chris admits to a perverse sense of satisfaction at seeing his father in pain remembering the years of abuse he suffered at the mans hand i asked him to apologize tome for what he did when i was a kid but he wouldnt he said but- 1 have told him i forgive you today chris is celebrating the fact he has been clean for 18 months im grateful im alive im gratej ful everything has come to this pointtni evenglad to know im a schizophrenic