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It started out just like any other day for me and turned out to be "the first day of the rest of my life!" I just recently moved out of an intensive residential MICA (mentally ill chemical abuser) program where I had spent nearly two years recovering from a long history of substance abuse and mental illness. Of course I didn't believe that there was any hope for me because I had been told so often that people like myself were beyond recovery and would always be in need of treatment. So there I was, two years clean and sober, unemployed, on public assistance, looking for a place where I would be accepted and wondering how long it would be before I ended up in the hospital again.

I had entered a store in lower Manhattan when someone gently tapped me on the shoulder. Turning around I saw that it was Julius Green who I met a couple of weeks ago at a Double Trouble meeting. He reached out and clasped my hand and told me it was a pleasure to see me and that he looked forward to seeing me again at the next Double Trouble meeting. He embraced me, excused himself, and departed. Needless to say, I was flabbergasted! His warm greeting haunted me for the rest of the day. I couldn't believe that the person who worked for a major community mental health agency and who didn't even know me, took the time to stop and greet me, saying he looked forward to seeing me again. And to top it all off, he was a consumer just like me.

"Wow!" I thought, "There is hope after all!"

Meeting him was a turning point in my life. I knew right then and there what other people like myself needed. We needed to know that we were worthy of being treated with the same dignity and respect that every other human being expects to be treated with. We needed to know that we are capable of being productive members of society. We needed to know that we were just as human as any other human being and this was what Julius made perfectly clear to us without ever having to say it! He made it clear to us through his empathy. But most importantly, he made it clear to us through his commitment to consumer empowerment. He joined the ranks of advocates like Howard Geld (Howie the Harp), Brendan Nugent and Ken Steele! I have no doubt that Howard Geld would have been proud to see the way Julius Green carried on his work at the Howie The Harp Peer Specialist Training Center.

Before his passing away, Julius single-handedly coordinated and hosted an employment conference on Friday June 9th, 2000, that would have made many of the elite employment agencies in New York City jealous as 300 inspired participants attended the first consumer employment conference ever hosted by the Howie T. Harp Peer Specialist Training Center. The purpose of the conference was to provide consumers meaningful information about job training, support services and gainful employment opportunities. The conference also provided participants with an opportunity to validate the importance of consumer-driven services.

Julius displayed his commitment to "consumer empowerment through employment" not only in his tireless efforts as assistant director of the Howie T. Harp Peer Specialist Training Center, where he proudly signed his name as "Julius Green, PS (peer specialist)," but also through the "Treatment is Working" campaign where he allowed his picture to be used in a city-wide Department of Mental Health (DMH) anti-stigma initiative. As a result of the "Treatment is Working" campaign, focus groups with employers who had experience hiring people with psychiatric disabilities were held. The agencies with vocational and rehabilitation programs were interviewed to determine how best to improve employment opportunities for consumers seeking employment.

Hundreds of calls flooded the LifeNet telephone lines during the 1999 summer poster campaigns. During July and August LifeNet received 2,900 and 3,100 calls respectively. About 500 calls a month more than LifeNet usually received. Most impressive was the dramatic increase in calls regarding employment which rose from about ten a month in May, to 211 in July. The unbelievable success of the 1999 summer poster campaign prompted DMH to do an encore posting in February and March of the year 2000.

However, in spite of all that, what I will most remember Julius for was his staunch support of the Double Trouble in Recovery meetings. Julius understood the importance of self-help peer support for dually-diagnosed consumers. Not only did they have to contend with the stigma of mental illness, but they also had to contend with society's determination to punish addicts for their "immoral" behavior. Punishments oftentimes exacted a longer prison sentence for "possession of a controlled substance" than for murder or rape.

This was a place where the MICA consumers would talk about how their symptoms drove them to addiction without being judged or condemned. They may have made bad decisions for choosing to drink and drug, but that did not make them bad people! Julius not only volunteered his time to facilitate and speak at countless Double Trouble meetings, but also started new meetings throughout the borough of Manhattan. Julius' presence at these meetings was both moving and inspiring, and when consumers left a meeting where he spoke, they knew deep down inside that today was indeed "the first day of the rest of their lives!"

I truly wish that he were alive today to see the fruits of his labor. Julius and I collaborated on an anti-stigma workshop at the NYAPRS 2000 conference titled: "Stigma: The First Barrier to Empowerment!" before he passed away. His support and motivation inspired me to design the anti-stigma website SeeCineMania.com, which one visitor referred to as "the cutting edge in anti-stigma." I would like to take the opportunity to dedicate that website to my friend, colleague and mentor, Julius Green, PS!