Glenn Koons, a peer support specialist and friend to the Lancaster recovery community, has been missing since July 20th. If you know where he is, contact the Sinking Spring police department at 610-678-1906. Here is one of many links to what's been found so far: http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story/Berks-County-man-missing-for-almost-a-month/E-XyjcCy4kefURV-wbLCSQ.cspx

Knowing that Glenn Koons is lost somewhere is unnerving to me. He's been gone for almost a month, and there seems to be very little to go on. What seems to be known from press accounts is, he was released from Reading Hospital, and that he got into a cab and went home. He was last seen walking down a road in his neighborhood, wearing a black and silver striped shirt. Another account says that search dogs found his scent along a river. There are also statements about his condition, that he needed medication for “an undisclosed medical condition”, while a later article said he had bipolar disorder. How much is truth and how much is speculation is uncertain, but only one thing is sure – Glenn Koons is missing, and no one seems to know where he is.

I'm sure lots of things have gone through the minds of his family and friends, and that they are holding on to the hope that he is alive and well. I’m hoping that he will simply turn up and apologize for having been gone so long, that maybe he decided to take a trip to Hawaii or some other warm and tropical place and just wanted to have some time to chill out. I can imagine him in one of his colorful Hawaiian shirts, sunburned from the top of his head to the toes clinging on to his flip-flops. I’m also hoping he’ll come up with good pictures of his travels and a have a good story to go with them.

As the days pass though, grim thoughts have also crossed my mind. A phrase that I have heard from the substance abuse recovery community comes to mind, something about “jails, institutions and death” being the end of someone who is losing or has lost the battle against their addiction. I know the same can be said of those with mental health problems, as well as those who struggle with co-occurring (both addiction and mental health) problems. I’ve seen most of that phrase played out firsthand.

I came to Lancaster many years ago at the invitation of a friend, one who struggled with alcoholism and bipolar disorder. In the nine months that I lived with him, he had spent time in jail, had been institutionalized twice, and often talked about wanting to die. At one point, he even wanted me to die with him. Although I was extremely depressed at the time, my will to live was stronger than my will to die, so I turned him down on that offer. After nine months I ended up leaving him to live at the Water Street Mission, and took out a PFA (protection from abuse order) against him, and didn’t see him again. One day, five years later, I opened up the Lancaster newspaper and found out that he finally got his wish to die fulfilled – he was murdered, and the speculation was that it was someone he met while he was in jail that was living with him.

I also remember when I had a brief stay at Crispus Attucks when they had a homeless shelter, a young woman who slept in the bunk next to mine. She talked to people who weren’t there a lot, so I guessed that she might have had schizophrenia. She had a boyfriend who was very possessive of her, and seeing the two of them made me feel uneasy and scared. Once I left Crispus Attucks, I never saw her again, until years later I saw her mentioned in the local newspaper. I found out she was murdered by her boyfriend – he had poured gasoline on her and set her on fire. Before she died, she said who had done this to her to whatever police or rescue workers were there. She also lived two blocks away from me on the same street, and I had no idea she was there.

Now someone I know from the mental health recovery community is missing, and I am very afraid.  I know that not everyone who has a mental illness goes to jail or lands in an institution, but I also know that for some people, it can be a death sentence, especially if it has been untreated for a long time or if a person decides to give up on treatment.

I hope to God that Glenn is found alive and well. If he needs help, I pray that he will have the will to ask for it from people who can, and that he gets what he needs.