Shane Buck is a client at Sound Mental Health, has a Traumatic Brain Injury and lives with depression. Because of this, Shane is not able to recall many details about his life, but his story is still powerful. Here is his story:
Shane Buck was happily married for 24 years. He had a beautiful daughter, worked as a painter, and was living a life with hope and purpose. That is, until his accident in 2010, the details he cannot recall.
“I woke up in the hospital. I did not know why or how I got there. They told me that I had a Traumatic Brain Injury,” he says today. “I left the hospital, came home to an empty house. My wife had left me before I arrived home. I started to have depression and received treatment from Spokane Mental Health. I was having suicidal thoughts. They did a psychiatric evaluation, and gave me some anti-depressant…
But, things did not get better for Shane.
“So my father asked me to come live with him in Kent, Washington. After I settled in Kent, I came to Sound Mental Health for help, because of my depression, and started seeing a counselor. This was about 2012.”
In 2015, Shane’s father passed away, and without the support from him, Shane became homeless. He was homeless for about a year before Sound Mental Health helped him to find housing. And, this was when Shane felt ready to work again. In 2016 with the support from his counselors, Tony Watson, and Sarah Wolfgang, Shane felt motivated to start looking for work after he heard about SMH’s Supported Employment Program.
“I wanted to get back to having a normal life. I needed to get back to work, have a regular schedule. I was quite bored and wanted to have something to do! I wanted a sense of stability, value, and worth, and more of a purpose. I voiced it to Sarah Wolfgang that I wanted to get back to work, and she referred me to SEP (Supported Employment Program). I wanted more income, and Sarah explained to me about being on SSI, earning money, and keeping SSI. Gloria Brim, SEP Vocational Specialist, helped me to get my job at Amazon as PT at the Distribution Center. I went on several interviews before my job offer with Amazon. These interviews with the help from Gloria, gave me more confidence that I could start working again.”
Shane believes that it’s important to seek help when people feel alone or in need of help.
“Getting to the right doctors – the right group of doctors, medications, physical therapy, and counseling; having people to help me to navigate the system, having a good support group — all helped me to get to where I am today.”
Life has been much more stable for Shane since getting a job.
“SMH was and has been very proactive in helping me to get better. I am not homeless anymore. I have a place to live, a roommate, and spending money to do things I want to do. I have a normal life again.”