It is with sadness that I write of the death of my long term friend and colleague Denise Eligan and with gratitude that I was able to call her a friend for many years. You are fortunate if you have a colleague like Denise Eligan in your life time. Denise and I worked as young drug counselors in 1985 at Hyde Park Hospital. The unit census dropped to 2 clients and my supervisor decreased my work hours from 40 per week to 20 hours per week. At 20 hours per week I would not have been able to afford to pay rent or buy groceries. Denise told our boss that rather than my working 20 hours per week that she would split her work hours with me and we could each work 30 hours per week. Who does that!!
I am most grateful to Denise for the impact that she had on my family. In the 1990's my brother had an active addiction and said he wanted to write screen plays about his life experiences. I told him of my friend Denise Eligan who was a writer extraordinaire that could co-write with him. I was hoping that while they wrote together her recovery would rub off on him. It did! Denise helped him get placed in detox and he is now in long term recovery! He co-wrote movie scripts with Denise during the early phases of his recovery and often spoke of how her wisdom contributed to his recovery. My brother and sister's in law also achieved long term recovery after Denise placed them in treatment.
Denise was an amazing drug counselor and said to me years ago People in recovery have other skills besides counseling. Her life was a living testament of this. Denise received a Masters Degree in Creative writing from Columbia College, Chicago. She wrote and directed a play, co-wrote 3 motion picture screen plays and was the editor of Recovered Magazine, one of the first recovery magazines in the nation. Denise was not only a creative writers, she was one of the nation’s best behavioral health grant writers. She was awarded a grant for an innovative program in Gary, Indiana Public Housing. The program was named Named Miracle Village and Provided addictions treatment services for women in the public housing development. Miracle Village consisted of 4 adjacent row houses, each provided specialized services for women seeking recovery (the recovery center, mental health facility, medical clinic and day care center for the client's children). Denise secured hundreds of thousands of Dollars as a Grant Writer for the State of Illinois.
Denise's retirement from the State was Graceful. She pursued painting upon retirement and quickly developed a reputation as a great artist. It is written that most people use little of their God given talents. Along with individuals like Ben Franklin and Paul Robeson, Denise Eligan made the most of the many talents God gave her. I am blessed that she was a part of my family’s life for so many years.