April’s Celebration Year of the Peer theme of connection is one that the staff and members of Trillium know well. Our members connect with each other and the staff at Trillium; we promote that daily.

People coming into the door of the Center find a connection with community. Every person at Trillium has mental health issues, and that alone gives a sense of connection. We each are in various places in our recovery journey and we don’t necessarily talk directly about our mental health issues, although we can.

As a facilitator at Trillium, I enjoy talking with members and connecting with them. Just about everything we do is tied to connectivity. Telephone calls, mailings, conference calls, and daily texts are among them. At the Center itself, we enjoy hearing appropriate music on our Bluetooth speaker while working and recently decided to have tea time at two p.m.

Connectivity to others is so important. The opposite of connectivity is isolation and unfortunately a lot of people became more aware of this feeling because of the pandemic. As part of the explanation of the Trillium mission statement we include the words ‘to reduce isolation and alienation that can happen when a person who has mental illness can experience’ when they stay at home and feel like they are the only one dealing with these feelings and matters. I have met so many amazing people who also have mental health issues. I am so grateful that I know in my heart I am not alone.

Trillium continues to connect to legislatures, the Prince William Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Prince William Alliance and more. It is important Trillium retains these connections, as we are invited to attend meetings and are very involved in the community. Our connection to a particular person at the CSB led to us being included in work that eventually had two of us speaking at a United Nations NGO Conference.