After you’ve been around a bit, you divine some birthdays are more consequential than others. To wit: At 13 you’re a teenager, at 16 you can drive, at 21 you can legally drink.
The first one with potential consequences is 40.
According to pop culture’s ordinance, we’d best have something accomplished by 40. If not our first million or the executive suite, we should be well on our way. But there are those who without a doubt made every minute of the first 40 count.
Tomorrow, a longtime resident of Sandy Springs hits the laureate 4-0, and from my perch it can claim a life well lived. The Link Counseling Center is celebrating its 40th, as are thousands of those it has helped through the years.
Elaine Gibson, now director of the Marriage and Family Counseling Center at the Link, joined the staff about a year after it opened in its first accommodations on Carpenter Drive. To say its physical plant was humble is beneficence.
“Some days we sat with our patients at picnic tables outside,” Gibson remembers. “We used orange crates the kids painted for end tables.”
The idea for the Link was never about plush digs at an illustrious address. The concept was a nonprofit, grass-roots mental health resource to the community. I remember some were wary because of its austere appearance. Most were wary because it was about mental health. But there was immediate demand.
“Parents were really anxious for our help,” Gibson said. “They were dealing with things they had no idea how to handle on their own.”
When the Link opened its doors in 1971, the fractious decade of the ’60s had ended, but the aftershocks were still being felt. Drug and alcohol abuse were increasing, as was an intensity of rebellion that never happened on “Father Knows Best.”
The Link was not just a place for troubled kids. The founders were believers in what was then a new idea — family therapy. The concept was if one family member needed counseling, their situation affected the entire household.
“There have been many times we were able to handle the specific problem someone is having relatively quickly,” Gibson said. “But the real work began when we brought everyone into the room.”
The greatest bequest the Link has brought to Sandy Springs is that no one seeking help has ever been turned away. People struggling with their finances are not required to pay the regular rate. Those with virtually none can also receive help. Often a hallmark day in their treatment is that first time they can pay.
Much has changed in the 40 years the Link has been in the business of healing. It’s now housed in two buildings on Mount Vernon Highway. That first building has been left far behind and is likely important only to the first therapists and patients.
So please lift a celebratory toast to the two score years the Link has been doing what it does best right here in our wee village. We should all do our first 40 as well.
Jim Osterman lives in Sandy Springs. Reach him at jimosterman@rocketmail.com
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