Improving the Ride

The Winchester Rescue Mission will be able to expand reach and services with their new location at 2655 Valley Avenue

Chris Doctson is on a mission.

The Winchester Rescue Mission resident has been on a mission for most of his adult life, leading him to serve others. Chris was diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia one year after graduating high school as a good student and excellent athlete. He had moved away from home to attend LaGuardia Community College in Queens, New York before he found himself called to a mission. As a result, Chris embarked on a journey that challenged him into the person he is today.

When Brandan Thomas, Executive Director of the Winchester Rescue Mission, was first asked to consider bringing Chris into the shelter on Cameron Street, the answer easily could have been no, and it almost was. On paper, Chris was not a great fit. He had a history of violence and larceny, was struggling with medication compliance, and was caught in a cycle of his life at that moment that appeared he might never escape his own shadow. It would have been easy to discard Chris’s file as one that could not be helped. It would be easy to discard his story under the umbrella of homelessness and mental illness. But instead, his story has become his mission, one that he now is using to help others.

Chris had many fond memories of his life growing up. Sure, his parents had divorced when Chris was in elementary school, but they remained committed to co-parenting their four children. Chris was very active in gymnastics, martial arts, and youth football. He was a Boy Scout that helped with food drives throughout his community, even though his family was just on the brink of needing that assistance themselves at times. He did his chores. He went to church every Sunday. He lived what many of us would consider a “normal life” growing up. After graduating high school in 2003, he had the world in the palm of his hand and was off to study Travel and Tourism at LaGuardia Community College.

Chris’s mother first detected that something was changing in him. She had fielded a phone call from Chris, who was set on moving to Australia because he had been told he needed to. At this time, she encouraged Chris to seek some help from mental health professionals. Chris followed through with his mother’s wishes and received his diagnosis. He was hospitalized for 30 days with medication which he did well with. Chris thought that might be the end of everything, only to find out he would require medication for the rest of his life.

“I felt less than. Immediately. I felt that I was going to need to be controlled for the rest of my life. I felt monitored. This wasn’t a challenge that I could complete. There is no end. Mission Impossible. That’s when I felt heartbreak. I really felt broken.” Chris said.

Chris did well with his medication for about two weeks until things started to slip. If he had missed a dose here and there, would anybody notice? Suddenly, there was no accountability and little understanding of the impact this diagnosis would have on the rest of his life. How would Chris know what was false?

Paranoid Schizophrenia presents with delusions, auditory and visual hallucinations, and grandiose thinking. It is impossibly difficult to tell when these

symptoms affect you because they feel so real. Chris did not experience many visual hallucinations but faced the rest of the symptoms. He had to constantly seek validation and verification to know what was true and what may be a symptom with or without medication. He had moved back to Virginia with his mother, battling medication compliance for the next three years.

At 23 years old, Chris had come home from his job with some food to rest after a hard day’s work. He flipped on a movie and found himself arguing with the main character. Noticing that he was getting worked up, Chris began to exercise. He changed his clothes and walked out his front door to get some fresh air and a change of scenery. Outside, an unknown person was walking a dog. Chris confronts the walker. “Did you just touch me or say something to me?” The man begins to walk away from Chris, and Chris follows him to a nearby house, where the walker hastily tries to get in. Chris runs and tackles the man through the front door and assaults him. Chris was now on a mission. He had noticed that he was being watched, and when the authorities came, Chris was sure that the ambulance would take him directly to Air Force One for his brave efforts. The walker was not unknown to Chris. He was a neighbor, and Chris assaulted the gentleman through the front door of his home and as he lay under Chris. Chris had not even closed the door to his own home.

Chris was charged with malicious wounding as well as breaking and entering.

“I was a pawn on a chessboard that had never-ending pieces.” The victims and witnesses vouched for Chris’s temporary psychosis, and his lawyer encouraged him to get evaluated and diagnosed again. The lawyer said to him, “You have been trying to take medication for something that you have that you didn’t know could lead down this road. For three years, you tried to get help voluntarily.” Chris was sent to Central State Hospital, where he took part in a graduated release program that taught him how he could take control of aspects of his diagnosis with nutrition, exercise, and therapy. Restoring some authority to his own life allowed Chris to gain valuable skills when working with others that may or may not be diagnosed. He graduated from the program at 29 years old. “Chris has become a friend, and I’ve loved hearing his story. I could go on for a long time talking about the respect and love for him as I’ve watched him do phenomenal things around the Winchester Rescue Mission.” Brandan Thomas

Moving back in with his mother and stepfather, who had moved to New York, Chris developed depression around the season’s change. “This time, we had a better battle plan, but I struggled to be honest with them,” Chris said. Shame hindered being truthful. “This life trajectory is not chosen.” He yearned to find a new triumphant moment in his life to build upon. Finally, Chris finds work again and moves back to Virginia.

A year passes before his car breaks down, and Chris is downtrodden with financial stress. The stress increases his depression. He is in a parking lot when he gets his next mission. A woman leaves her car running and runs into the store. Chris knows what he needs to do. He walks over as the woman returns to tell her that he needs her help in his mission. However, what he really needs is her car. He gets in, finds a full tank of gas, and confirms that he is on the right path to complete his mission. “This is the moment,” he is told. Chris is met by Law Enforcement while driving near Baltimore, Maryland, and a chase ensues. Soon the chase comes to an end. “I thought I had been shot,” Chris recalls. Instead, he had crashed the vehicle at 80 miles an hour. Shattered glass and crumpled metal had made Chris feel as if he had been shot. Those same officers that had been chasing Chris were now checking on him. “They were checking on me more than I could check on me.” He was charged with grand larceny of a vehicle and resisting arrest and spent two years in jail before his case was heard. He is sentenced to five years. A judge leaves an impact on Chris when he says, “This is what happens when you don’t take care of yourself.” He spends his remaining three years in prison before being released back into the care of his parents in New York. He must continue taking his medication and therapy with professional mental health staff.

The COVID pandemic hits and shutdowns around the state leave Chris without a way to obtain his medication. He was caught in a glitch. His records had not reached the state of New York to assign case management. Doctors had left their offices, and voicemails were not returned. Chris could not adhere to his probation and was sent back to a jail in Virginia for a probation violation. Finally, he was able to receive medication again. Brandan Thomas is contacted to see if the Winchester Rescue Mission can help.

Brandan was unsure that the Winchester Rescue Mission had the staff or capabilities to accommodate Chris based on his court records. However, Chris’s attorney convinced Brandan to meet with Chris. “I knew within two sentences that he would

be a good fit,” Brandan said. “It has been one of the Winchester Rescue Mission’s best decisions.”

Chris has been certified as a Peer Support Specialist. He utilizes these skills every day, working the desk at the Mission. For example, Chris was recently able to diffuse, deescalate, and disarm someone who had pulled a knife on another resident.

Chris used the skills that he had learned with David Austin Rowe, who was charged with the second-degree murder of Dianna Lynne Swaner, his grandmother. Chris often deescalated Austin while he was at the Mission. Chris was also able to diffuse a former resident who had returned to the mission with unreasonable demands. State psychiatric facilities were not able to fulfill the needs as they previously had and that trickles down to local hospital systems and shelters. The Winchester Rescue Mission will expand their capabilites, not only for bed space, but bolstered outreach services for job services and health care.

Currently, the Winchester Rescue Mission partners with the Aids Response Effort (ARE), Northern Shenandoah Substance Abuse Coalition, Northwestern Community Services, and the Sinclair Health Clinic to improve overall health for residents in shelter.

A partnership with the Literacy Volunteers Winchester Area provides literacy skills to help refine job ready skills to improve within or re-enter the workforce.

“I am proud of what you are doing. The Winchester Rescue Mission is a better place because you are here.” Brandan Thomas says to Chris. “I am so happy with where I am at. If there is a place for me, I feel that it is here.” Chris responds.

For more information on programs and services and/or how you can donate or volunteer, please visit winrescue.org

Above: Richard was able to purchase his own home after help from the Winchester Rescuer Mission. Below: Linda Fletcher, Account Executive at iHeartMedia, makes a donation.

Chris continues working on his peer recovery skills as he looks to improve the ride that many face when dealing with mental illnesses. The Winchester Rescue Mission also looks to help tackle struggles with mental illness, especially in the wake of the pandemic, with their new facilities on Valley Avenue, where they can provide for more residents with a massive spike in mental health needs.

Roughly 90 percent of current shelter residents have reported a diagnosed mental illness. That percentage doubled in post-pandemic society.