By Tom Naughton
Mercer County Community College New Jersey
Terry Ferreira grew up working at his family’s bicycle shop in New Amsterdam, near his country’s psychiatric hospital. No one could have predicted the events that followed: that almost a half a century later he would return to Guyana, with a bicycle, and proceed on a journey through the Americas, the States, and finally Canada, to help end the stigma of mental illness.
Terry’s journey began on a back porch in New Jersey, where a friend told him about his daughter’s struggle with bipolar illness. He went with his friend to a support group, and was stunned to realize that mental illness was in his family as well, and that it was stigma that kept his family from learning, and helping. He resolved then and there to do his part to make a difference. He called his campaign ‘Quiet Noise,‘ and would ride a bicycle from Kaieteur Falls to Niagara Falls to draw attention to his campaign.
In Guyana, he appeared on the media and explained the principles of Quiet Noise: awareness, acceptance and action. One cannot help a friend who suffers from this illness without an awareness, or understanding, that this is an illness that is not voluntary, is not purposeful, is not a defect of character.
And acceptance follows: you have to accept the person, and, painful though it is, you have to come to grips with the terrible fact of the illness and its manifestations. However, all this is for naught, if there is no action.
The 7,500 mile ride was undertaken to build awareness, and create support for those with the illness. And support was created: funding in Guyana, a shelter in Venezuela, kind and helpful people along the way, major press coverage and awards by government officials in New Jersey, and invitations to speak in Canada.
Terry was appointed to the Mental Health Board in Mercer County, New Jersey where he advised on funding and programmes, and for 14 years helped teach a class on human service programmes at a college in Trenton.
Inspired, one student created a Girl Scout patch for mental health awareness, others undertook additional activities.
Today Terry Ferreira is working on a book which will detail the intercontinental ride, its impact, and steps that need to be taken in the future, in Guyana, in the States, and by anyone else who will listen, on improving attitudes to mental health problems.
