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# Los Angeles Daniel’s Village could be a model
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/los-angeles-daniels-village-could-be-a-model-editor/
- Published: 2007-10-25T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T03:39:12.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Isabel Charleston Santa Monica*

(Re: “Residents to Step Up: Step off,” Oct. 18) A mentally ill person is not a criminal looking to kill all the neighbors. A mentally ill person is not a monster trying to destroy the community. The community won’t get infected by a mentally ill person.

A mentally ill person is a person like you or I that one day happens to wake up and behaves strange... his/her personality changes... acts like a different person for days, weeks, months... loses sense of reality... He/she loses control of himself/herself and do not understand what is going on.

Have you been mad and scream and said things you regret later? Well, if you keep on losing control of yourself and let the situation control you, maybe you have a mental illness. You must treat it. Now, do you think is it fair that your community turns against you? Do you suffer from constant depression? If so, maybe you have a mental illness. It is unfortunate that most people still have the perception that a mentally ill person is a criminal looking to harm kids or anybody! This is ignorance at work.

The persons that will live in the Daniel’s Village are the ones who are responsible with their medication, are helping themselves to improve their lives, go to school to learn skills, and attend meetings at Daniel’s Place. These are people that need housing, they have ambition for a better life, and have a potential to be model citizens; the only difference is that they take medication for mental illness. They can be very well an asset to the community.

This will be a model program that will help the future of real people. Please do not act based on fear. Get more information from Step Up. You will find out that there are strict requirements for a person to qualify living in Daniel’s Village.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 25, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/102507.pdf?ref=smdp.com)