Olney’s Award-Winning Psychiatric Rehabilitation Work Inspired by Experience
Dr. Marjorie Olney has spent 19 years at San Diego State University training rehabilitation counseling professionals to improve the lives of people living with mental illness.
She has also spent the past 19 years closely guarding a secret.
Olney, professor in the Department of Administration, Rehabilitation, and Postsecondary Education (ARPE), is the architect of SDSU’s programs in psychiatric rehabilitation — a field that supports the recovery, community integration and workforce participation of people diagnosed with mental health conditions. It’s a lasting legacy for which she will receive the 2021-22 Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Faculty Contributions on Aug. 19.
Yet her passion for the field didn’t develop out of mere academic fascination or clinical experience. That’s the piece she’s kept hidden — until now.
“The university is all about that mind, right?” Olney says. “So I’ve been careful about it. But I figure at this point in my career, if it can be helpful to other people, I want to talk about it.”
And so she does.
“I have a serious mental illness. I have bipolar disorder.”
The rocky years
“This goes to show you that people can and do recover,” Olney said. “This isn’t a life sentence.”
But there were very dark days along the way. Olney refers to the period of 2002-2007, not long after her arrival at SDSU, as “the rocky years.”
Sometimes, the depression got so bad she often struggled to get out of bed, or make sense of the words on her computer screen. Teaching and research became problematic, attending faculty meetings almost intolerable.
“The nature of bipolar disorder is you have these exacerbations,” Olney explains. “Then it lays off for a little bit and then it gets worse. I’m guessing my behavior was pretty weird at that time.”
Making matters worse, Olney said, her psychiatrist at the time offered but one solution — more and more medication. Fortunately, Olney eventually found a lifeline. She started seeing a psychotherapist who helped pull her back from the brink.
“She helped save my life,” Olney said. “She found me services. She found me a new psychiatrist who was able to peel off all those layers of medication and get me adjusted onto one that didn’t have a lot of side effects. Now, I take medication and don’t even know it’s on board.”
The story of recovery
“Having this mental health crisis changed my focus 180 degrees,” she said. “I thought to myself, ‘Here’s a story that maybe we haven’t told enough — the story of recovery.’ People with serious mental illness can and do recover. They get back to work and be productive.”
In 2005 Olney approached Dr. Fred McFarlane — then chair of ARPE and one of the few colleagues in whom she confided about her illness — about creating a course in psychiatric rehabilitation. McFarlane, and later his successor Dr. Caren Sax, both saw the vision and were supportive.
Olney used the course as a jumping off point to create a certificate program in psychiatric rehabilitation, then a clinical concentration and licensure program in clinical mental health counseling within SDSU’s rehabilitation counseling master’s program. The concentration now draws more than 100 applicants each year.
“It’s gone from being this unknown specialization to something that people are being really excited about,” Olney said.
Finding satisfaction
“Dr. Marj Olney embodies the qualities of an exceptional educator,” McFarlane said. “She is an accomplished teacher, a scholar and a personal and professional role model for our students in rehabilitation counseling. She addresses her mental health issue with grace and persistence. Her self-advocacy serves as a model for each one of us.”
For Olney, true satisfaction comes from seeing her programs thrive. She said she relishes starting with a blank computer screen and building something that will make a difference. More than 85 alumni have gone through the clinical concentration and out into the community; through each one of them, the impact of her work expands out geometrically.
And that work isn’t done. Olney is currently in the process of developing a new advanced certificate program that addresses the intersection of psychiatric and substance use disorders.
“The whole disability field is so important,” Olney said. “One of the nice things about psychiatric rehabilitation is that it basically conceptualizes psychiatric illnesses as disabilities. I can really wrap my mind around that — especially in light of my own experience.”