Finding Community and Purpose at Aspire House by Janet
September was National Recovery Month and Sepsis Awareness Month. I am pointing this out because I have lived both. Sepsis is the body’s overactive and toxic response to an infection. Like a stroke or a heart attack, it is a medical emergency that requires rapid diagnosis and treatment. I have had it twice. It damaged my brain to the point that I could no longer read, which was vital to my career as a historian and educator. I lost myself, and for a long time I could not see a path forward.
I have also had an eating disorder since I was 19, with long periods of recovery, and I live with depression and anxiety. So I prayed with my feet,and listened to podcasts to begin the path back. Eventually I started reading again and found comfort in immersing myself in the written word. But that was not enough. I needed to find my voice again, especially after my eating disorder returned in 2025. After several hospitalizations and many panic attacks, I knew I had to design my own recovery, because everyone’s different.
Today I have a team of people who want to see me succeed, and I have found community and purpose at Aspire House, a Clubhouse International-certified community in San Mateo County. I started writing again in the clubhouse’s Business Unit, where members run the day-to-day operations alongside staff. I am now working with the founder on an oral history of Aspire House so that others can find hope in our story. And I am back to the business of being an historian, examining the role of race, ethnicity, religion, and disability in American education.
Thanks to Aspire House I have new friends, new connections, and a reason to get up in the morning. I want more people to find that. If you know someone living with mental illness who needs community and a path back to work, share Aspire House with them. “988” is the three-digit, nationwide phone number to connect directly to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
