A Remarkable 40th Anniversary Year

By MDSG-NY

March 1, 2021

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By Li Faustino, PhD
The year 2021 marks MDSG’s 40th anniversary, representing 40 years of weekly support groups, even during most holidays, through blizzards, site relocations, September 11th, and numerous internal challenges such as volunteer shortages. So perhaps it is no surprise that MDSG continued to operate during the pandemic, which really was a surprise to all. On the eve of our 40th year anniversary, MDGS was faced with its most daunt- ing challenge ever. The world went through a shared trauma of a rampant and unpredictable virus, widespread isolation, and a thousand other losses and changes that none of us could have ever imagined.
As in the past MDSG volunteers sprang into action. Some parked themselves at our in-person sites to break the news to incoming participants that our groups would not be meeting. Another extraordinary volunteer speedily set up our virtual groups in one week; we barely missed a beat! As we look back to that first couple of weeks, I will share with you a paragraph that one of our volunteers wrote, which I believe captures it well:
MDSG didn’t miss a beat. As I recall it, Henry sprang into action from his command post at MDSG South, with assistance from Carolyn and others, and within a week, after much trial and error on calls with all of us dedicated, loyal, flexible, congenial volunteers-with-a-purpose—broken links, chronic interrupters, jenky audio, muted depressives, invisible participants—we were back in action as the owners of one of Zoom’s most active accounts worldwide. And, as we got our bearings, several times a week we offered refuge and support—and sometimes just the simplicity of conversation—to people feel- ing the bleak loneliness of isolation, and other disorienting circumstances, on more than one continent.

Beyond this effort, we have forged past our usual operations. We trained new facilitators, are forming specialized groups, acquired more focused training on suicide and cultural impacts on mood disorder treatment, and even offered a new fundraising approach that was entertaining, inspiring, and de-stigmatizing. I believe that upon entering our 41st year, we have shattered records that even our founders could not have predicted. Currently, we serve people in multiple time zones and on multiple continents. We have broken through challenges within our organization that has existed for decades, such as rejuvenating the Family & Friends group.
All of this we owe to our amazing volunteer base and to the masses of people who reached out for help during this harrowing year. Personally, I feel that fighting debilitating episodes and figuring out how to continue one’s own treatment during a pandemic was downright heroic. Like-wise, our volunteers rose to the occasion and offered a place of continuity and solace in a new medium. It is a shared pandemic experience so they did so while grappling with the tribulations of their own lives. This, too, is heroic.

I think back to some of the heroes who made this possible. They are names that many of you know: How- ard Smith, Betsy Naylor, Da- vid Chowes, and Ivan Gold- berg in memoriam as well as Ngaere Baxter, Marylou Selo, and Richard Satkin. Some of our heroes from the past are still with MDSG today. This is a true testament to the family that MDSG has become as well as to the lasting effect of what we do as an organization. If MDSG has helped us find ourselves or saved our lives, we tend to stay and save back. It is a formula that has worked for us since 1981 and will continue as we look to the future of MDSG
Dr. Li Faustino is Chair of the MDSG Board

MDSG’s Initial Directors
Those we thank for their vision and action

David Chows
Gary Goldsmith
Carole Kahn
Betty Mackintosh
Jean Morrow
Nanette Nass
Richard Satikin
Marylou Selo
Jane Schonfeld
Marc Schonfeld
Susan Weiman

A Remarkable 40th Anniversary Year