‘It saved my life’ | A recovery center is using pickleball to treat mental illness. They say it’s working.
By Keith BieryGolick
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CINCINNATI (WCPO) — Bill Brown is sitting on a picnic table outside the Recovery Center of Hamilton County. In its parking lot, a small court is roped off by several dollies and orange construction cones.
Brown’s job is to help people living with mental illness. But he’s telling me about someone he couldn’t reach.
It’s why he’s here: Pickleball practice. This weekly game is his attempt to connect with people in a different way.
“What we’re doing is offering anything we can think of that will stick with somebody,” Brown said. “And so far, something has.”
Because at one time, Betsy Fischer couldn’t look people in the eye. She rarely left her home.
“It was very, very hard for me just to talk to people. I felt very isolated and depressed,” Fischer said. “That’s why environments like this are so important.”
And that’s why every Wednesday, she comes here just for pickleball.
“It’s brought me out of my shell,” Fischer said. “You would never know that I struggle with mental illness.”
She’s not the only one like that. Judy Lamping laughs when I ask about her story.
“You don’t have time for that,” Lamping said. “I can talk the ear off a badger.”
She says she’s not very good at pickleball, but that’s not important. Neither, really, is her diagnosis of depression and anxiety. What’s important is being around people who understand her — something she finds on this makeshift pickleball court every week.
“It saved my life,” Lamping said. “It really has. It saved my life.”
On the sidelines, Brown is clapping.
“That’s what I love about this place,” he said. “We’ll do whatever we can to reach one person.”
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