Fifteen years ago, a therapist noticed a strange thing while treating a young woman with multiple-personality disorder: One of her personalities displayed flu-like symptoms -- fever, runny nose, aches and chills -- but when another personality emerged, the symptoms disappeared.
From that observation, Deidre Brigham began a small clinic dedicated to holistic healing. Using therapy, art, music and journal-keeping, Orlando's Getting Well treats about 100 clients a year, including the terminally ill. Many clients are funded by private donors.
This year, the clinic's funding from private donors dried up, due in part to the post-9/11 economy. "Everybody is working as hard as they can to keep it open," says Rosalind Penny, who took over as director of Getting Well after her mother, Brigham, died several years ago.
Penny estimates Getting Well needs $50,000 by the end of the year to remain open. A silent auction and appeals to donors have failed to raise enough cash.
"Getting Well used to be about my mother," Penny says. "But now it's becoming its own being, which I think is wonderful. We have just as much talent and expertise as when my mother ran it."
For information, call 407-426-8662.
