Raising mental health awareness

Oklahoma does not have a good record of mental health care and Raleigh Stone wants to help change that by bringing awareness to a mental health crisis in the state.

Stone has begun  a journey of walking from one end of Oklahoma to the other along Highway 81. He started at the Red River on Sept. 28 and made his way to Waurika for the first part of the trip. He followed it up on Oct. 5 walking from Waurika to Comanche. Last Saturday, he left Comanche and walked to Duncan.

Stone, a Comanche native who now lives in Duncan, chose to break up the walk so that people could join him on his journey. On Oct. 12, more than a dozen people tagged along on the route.

“The goal is to raise money for Bonnie’s HOPE and bring awareness to the mental health crisis, the issue in Oklahoma and the recovery efforts,” Stone said. “Mental health is out of control. They want to prescribe medication instead of dealing with the underlying issues. And I think medication is a bigger problem than if you just go ahead and cry. A lot of people think that’s not okay to cry because it makes you weak, but that’s not the case.”

In December 2022, an investigative article published by The Oklahoman newspaper and non-profit news agency Oklahoma Watch, reported the state was lacking mental health professionals in all 77 counties.

Stone, a former addict, named underlying issues that can cause problems.

“Pain from when you were a kid like childhood trauma,” Stone said. “I found out mine was abandonment. When I was 52 years old I thought it was because I was being spanked or abused as a child. That’s what I claimed. But it wasn’t. God revealed to me that it was abandonment because all my relationships would last about a year or so and then I’d blow them up and go on.”

After the relationships fell apart, Stone found himself on his own again.

“I was alone because of my own actions but I blamed everybody else when it was me causing the problems due to my childhood,” Stone said.

When he first started the journey, five people joined him but it has continued to grow along every stop and he has been blown away by the support. Churches and businesses have been feeding the travelers along the journey. Before leaving Saturday, they had a breakfast at First Baptist Church of Comanche, their staging area to begin the walk to Duncan.

“It’s way bigger than I thought it would be three weeks in,” Stone said. “There’s some awareness and attention there.  I’m blown away by the people and the support of the community.”

Physically, the trip has gone pretty well. He got several comments on his Bonnie’s Hope Facebook page about him wearing flip-flops to walk over 20 miles on the first trip. He switched to Crocs for the second part but was back to flip-flops for the third part. 

“My feet are better,” Stone said. “They were a little rough that first week. It took about two weeks to get them back to flip-flop ready.”

Stone started Bonnie’s HOPE ministry in 2021 in honor of his grandmother, Bonnie Stranahan, who he said never stopped praying for him. He has been clean for almost 10 years and is now 54 years old. 

“She prayed me out of addiction,” Stone said. “She prayed for 45 years for me to meet Jesus and for me to understand how much he loved me and I didn’t for a long time. And then when I was at the end of my rope, I remembered everything my grandma said and knew I needed some help.”

That’s where the purpose of Bonnie’s HOPE comes to light, that  of helping others caught up in addiction who are at the end of their rope.

“I ended up homeless over my deal with addiction,” Stone said. “I had family who loved me, but they didn’t know how to help me. They didn’t know where to go, what to do for me or who to call or anything. When you (loved ones) do all you can do, you’re tired of helping because of the lies and the sneaking around. No one trusts you when you are an addict. You get to that point where no one trusts you, no one wants to be around you and no one believes you.”

Bonnie’s HOPE provides rides to and from rehab facilities. They will help find a facility to meet the needs of those that are being helped. They also provide hygiene bags and other items.

“We tell them, ‘When you’re ready (to go to rehab), we’ll take you. We’ll get you there,’” Stone said. “A lot of people ain’t ready right then, but you just keep calling. I’ll take you 50 times. I’m not going to go get you and bring you back because you don’t want to finish, but if you get back and want to go back, I’ll take you back.”  

Bonnie’s HOPE can be contacted on Facebook, on the website bonnieshope.com and by email at bonniesHOPE2021@gmail.com. The phone number for the organization is 405-423-9426.