The Southeast Advocacy Center was formed as part of that non profit effort. Recent personal matters have interfered with the timing of my application and I am left holding a corporation without a purpose-at least for now. At any given time, about fifteen percent of Jacksonville's population suffers from a mental disorder. In most cases, the mental event is transitory and passes within a few months. No one is sure why some people are stricken, or why the rate of increase in mental illness is becoming pandemic.
Most authorities agree that there is some genetic contribution.
However, the disease does not follow traditional genetic patterns. The National Institute of Mental Health takes the position that large portions of the population carry the predisposition to mental disorders, but some environmental factor triggers the disease in certain subjects. The trigger may be something as simple as the flu. Any one that works with this population is struck by the way other sectors feed off of misfortune. Volunteers are needed by every church, lodge, hospital and association who have members here.