Individuals with mental illness and substance abuse disorder often are faced with the burden of having their chronic illness stamped with stigmas holding them back from reaching out for help.

Dr. Sarah Scruggs, chief executive officer for the Arukah Institute of Healing, addressed these issues as well as how to build wisdom within the community, the tools to handle these challenges and the future of the institute during a dinner meeting Wednesday with Rotary clubs in La Salle.

“You can impact people in your community by accepting them. Maybe they’re a little strange. Maybe they smell. Maybe they’re kind of a bummer to be around. You have the opportunity to accept them to meet them right where they are at.”

—  Dr. Sarah Scruggs, chief executive officer for the Arukah Institute of Healing

Scruggs read quotes from individuals struggling with mental health or substance abuse during her presentation to show the impact stigma has on those facing these challenges.

“No addict wants to be an addict, but every addict is scared of getting clean,” a person with a substance use challenge said.

“It came from my side, I’ve got the guilt ... if I hadn’t had him, he wouldn’t be like that. If I had known at the time, I probably wouldn’t have had any children because of what I’ve seen happen to him ... I didn’t think about this being passed on when I was 23 years old. You think ‘This will never happen to me,’” a sentiment from a father with a mentally ill child.

Scruggs said the impact stigma has in rural communities has a detrimental effect on treatment outcomes for people with mental illness and substance abuse disorder.

“People often say substance abuse, mental illness is a disease, just like cancer,” she said. “It’s treatable. So, why is that so much harder to believe? That it’s a disease. It’s not a moral issue.”

Scruggs said she believes it’s because the signs and symptoms of mental illness and substance abuse are often items that are offensive to other people; excessive drinking, erratic behavior, irritability, lying, impulsivity, anger, unreliability and others.

Environmental and genetic factors affect an individual’s vulnerability to having a mental illness or a substance abuse disorder.

Environmental factors include trauma, discrimination, birth complications, poverty, immigration, illicit drug use, abuse/neglect, major sources of stress or social isolation/loneliness. Genetic factors could include a change in DNA sequence.

Scruggs said the community can assist a person struggling with addiction or mental illness by mitigating those environmental factors by enhancing the protective factors.

The community is able to accomplish that through acceptance, social support, coping skills, faith, medication, exercise, sleeping and having goals, Scruggs said.

“Honestly, many things every single person can do, " she said. “You can impact people in your community by accepting them. Maybe they’re a little strange. Maybe they smell. Maybe they’re kind of a bummer to be around. You have the opportunity to accept them to meet them right where they are at.”

Future of Arukah

Arukah purchased in September a new site in Princeton, commonly known as Perry Plaza at 526 Bureau Valley Parkway and construction is underway.

Arukah’s current facility is located at North Main Street in Princeton, which has 12,000 square feet. The new building will have 38,000 square feet.

The health department will stay in the building as tenants, Scruggs said. Crews are renovating 7,000 square feet for them on the north side of the property by the library.

Once completed it will either be a rural health clinic or a federally qualified health center, Scruggs said.

“The cool thing about that is it has dentistry, primary care and then Arukah will provide behavioral health, so it’s a wrap-around model that serves anyone regardless of their ability to pay,” she said.

The facility also will feature a training room that will fit 120 to 150 people, a clinical psychologist who will be performing neuropsychological testing, private rooms for keeping people overnight, a family wing, more restrooms to provide hot showers and more laundry facilities.

In Ottawa, Arukah is leasing space from North Central Illinois Council of Governments, Scruggs said. The space is packed and the agency already is looking for a larger facility to accommodate its needs.

She said Arukah is growing rapidly and is seeing an increased need for psychiatry, counseling and substance services.