Courage was a key word used by several speakers Wednesday at Grapevine Center mental health recovery facility.

“We are here to celebrate the courage and recognize the courage people have in their recovery,” said Bette Peoples, the center's executive director.

A remembrance and celebration of life rally was held at the Grapevine Center for Mental Illness Awareness Week.

The keynote speaker was Tim Branson, a Pittsburgh native who is in recovery from alcoholism and lives with bipolar disorder.

Branson said that for many years he was in and out of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh, but he had the habit of “treating” his bipolar disorder with alcohol instead of his prescribed medication and disregarding his doctors.

“It seemed like if I could get out of reality, I would be OK, but it actually made things worse,” he said.

Eventually, after years of turmoil, he ended up at the hospital and finally sought help for his drinking. He wound up at the Ellen O'Brien Gaiser Center in Butler.

“There were good professional people there to help me and I didn't tell them how to do it,” he said.

Once he got clean, he decided to stay in Butler, where he got a job driving a van for the Grapevine Center and later became a peer counselor.

Branson said the message he would like to share is that mental illness is not a death sentence, but people who are struggling with it need to have the courage to seek help and let others help them.

“I am not a proponent of self-healing self. I tried it and it didn't work,” he said. “I could never do this alone. I needed all the people that were placed in my life.”

Also during the rally, counselors with the center gave short tributes to 10 Grapevine Center patients who passed away in the past year.

Paul Jones gave a tribute to Kenny Norris, a Navy veteran, who died of an ear infection.

Norris lived with autism and would never complain when he was dealing with aches and pains, Jones said. In the case of his ear infection, he didn't get medical attention soon enough.

“Autism is debilitating in that it places a barrier between the person and society,” he said.

Norris was a caring person, Jones said, and he had saved up a significant amount of money, which his family donated to help others with autism in his hometown of Erie.

The goal of the week is to educate the public, fight stigma and provide support, according to the National Alliance.

The Grapevine Center, located on Elm Street, is a nonprofit organization funded by Butler County and the United Way of Butler County. For more information about treatment and services offered there, call 724-283-1704.