Taking Charge : Recovery: Former mental patient will manage subsidized-housing complex for people with special needs. VA hospital is credited for turning his life around.

Dennis Bullock’s life almost has come full circle in the past decade. After his fiancee broke off their marriage plans in 1984, Bullock lost a home in the affluent black neighborhood of View Park, and gave up active church membership.

He lost his job as a machine operator when he started coming in late and intoxicated and began living in his car. Eventually, he wound up in a mental hospital.

“I got to the point where I was hopeless and helpless,” Bullock said. “All I wanted to do was numb my feelings with alcohol and tooting (cocaine).”

But on Monday, just two years after Bullock got out of a semi-independent facility for recovering mental patients, he was named resident manager of the Berendo Apartments, some of whose residents are former mental patients. The refurbished complex on Berendo Street offers subsidized housing to 48 people.

The project is sponsored by A Community of Friends, a nonprofit group that develops affordable housing for people with special needs in Southern California, and by Portals Mental Health Rehabilitation Services. It was financed with state and private funds.

For Bullock, managing the building won’t be just a job--it will be a chance to prove that he can continue to rise above his former addictions and mental disabilities.

A Vietnam veteran, Bullock credits the Veteran’s Administration Hospital here with starting him on the road to recovery.

“The turning point was one day when I was sitting with all these pills in my hand and wanted to drink myself into oblivion,” he recalled. “But something told me to call the Veteran’s Administration Hospital. And that’s when they helped me.”

After outpatient treatment at the hospital, he checked himself into a mental institution. With a steady stream of support from other patients and growing confidence in himself, Bullock was discharged and began living in a semi-independent housing facility.

While addressing the small crowd on the roof of the Berendo Apartments on Monday, Bullock reflected on how important it will be to again receive a regular salary and benefits.

“Having this job is freedom for me,” Bullock said. “It’s a big step up from where I was just a few years ago.”

Jesse Herrera, director of program services for Portals, said it is important to give former mental patients a chance to regain control of their lives.

“Having a place they can call their own is something that all people want,” he said. “Homeless individuals with psychiatric disabilities have an equal opportunity to demonstrate that it is an achievable goal.”