Letter to the editor: feeling ‘shame’ for Lincoln

Editor’s note: The Lincoln Squirrel is on vacation and was not able to attend the June 28 meeting Kochmann refers to. Coverage will resume on July 11. 

To the editor,

The night of June 28 at the Planning Board meeting marked the second time this year I felt overwhelmed with shame for a body of Lincoln citizens. McLean Hospital has proposed the use of 16-22 Bypass Rd. to educate and treat a handful of adolescent males who suffer from depression and anxiety.

Fear was the primary sentiment expressed by residents, an emotion that is no stranger to anyone who listens to the news. Yet, whatever amount of fear citizens feel, multiply that by some unimaginable amount and you’ll have a hint of the fear these young men live with day in and day out.

I thanked McLean on behalf of my daughter who suffered from crippling anxiety and depression. She was so terrified she could barely leave her room and was unable to attend school for two years. After trying everything else, we investigated our only remaining option, a full immersion treatment program. After 90 days she came home remarkably changed.  She had learned the causes of her affliction and methods to deal with it. She had made new friends with whom she was exceptionally close. She attended school this past year every day and achieved excellent grades. She communicates, has made more new friends, and has great insight into herself. She still struggles every day, but she now has tools to help her cope.

After the meeting, I asked my daughter about violence in the Program she attended. She seemed puzzled but eloquently described how the kids relied on and supported each other through their difficult journeys. They became aware of their own and others triggers and learned to avoid them. If they left each other, it was to cry.  Many of her peers had been abused so the last thing they would do was abuse anyone else. One person who got really angry, punched a pillow. This does not seem like the description of a population to be feared.

It’s all too easy to paint mental illness with a broad brush and cry out “not in my neighborhood.” There are huge differences between psychoses and depression and anxiety. Do these citizens of Lincoln really think that McLean would take on the liability of placing such a facility here if they thought its residents might pose a serious danger to the neighbors?

At least two of the people at the meeting knew my daughter quite well before she became ill. I hope that they and the others will read this, face their fears, and use the funds they’re spending on legal counsel to educate themselves and/or to contribute to institutions like McLean. They are trying to solve some of the world’s biggest problems, in this case by working with a tiny subset of youngsters suffering from a specific mental illness that renders them unable to function.

One of the reasons why I moved here was because I was under the impression that, in a pinch, Lincolnites do the right thing. If that doesn’t happen in this instance, the town is changing in ways that I don’t embrace.  That makes me truly sad.

In case you’re wondering when the first time was that I was ashamed this year, it was at the Special Town Meeting where the vote was to withdraw from the Minuteman school district. But that commentary is for another day.

Sincerely,

Carol Kochmann
9 Brooks Hill Rd.

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