TESTIMONIALS
Karli
Todd
Todd contacted CJKF to help his family pay for specialized treatment for his wife, who suffers from a mental health condition. After trying numerous other places, a specialized clinic was found out of state. It was expensive for an initial consultation and like many centers did not take insurance. CJKF helped get Todd's wife to her initial consultation, but unfortunately, the center would not work for their needs. CJKF helped the family find another option for care and offered continued financial assistance when needed.
CJKF has been awesome throughout this whole process. Not just financially, they have helped my wife find treatment also. Krissy and Kate have been wonderful! So empathetic and caring. They are always available and respond quickly. Thank you CJKF!
Laura C.
I was put in touch with the Klanica family in 2019 through a mutual friend. I had also lost a family member to suicide and resonated with their mission of making a difference in the lives of those affected by mental illness.
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I had spent the last several years offering Mental Health First Aid training to the community in hopes of raising awareness, educating folks, and equipping them with the skills to come alongside others. Like them, I wanted to help prevent mental illness from taking more precious lives.
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After meeting with them, we merged our efforts and they helped promote, fund, and coordinate numerous training sessions. This has been a tremendous help that has expanded the reach of this program. I know I can approach them anytime there is an opportunity to provide this valuable training that helps save lives. I can count on their generous support whether it is a scholarship to a participant, instructors fee, or any other resource to make it happen!
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In addition, I am a licensed clinical social worker in private practice and well aware of the mental health needs of those in our community. However, some people are hindered from affording much-needed services due to limitations in their insurance coverage such as a high deductible or co-pays they can’t afford. We know that timely intervention can keep someone’s mental health issues from worsening and an interruption in services can be devastating. To address this need, CJK began a program to prevent lack of funds from being a barrier to treatment.
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I have now had 2 clients who were able to continue therapy thanks to the financial support from the Foundation. Both have completed their treatment, are thriving now, and are so grateful to CJK for ensuring the burden of finances was not a hindrance to getting the help they needed.
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I am very grateful to CJK and I celebrate the ways they are lovingly and personably pouring out what is needed to make a difference in the lives of so many who are struggling.
Julia V.
I can’t thank the CJK Foundation enough for paying my son’s high medical bills.
When I found out about the organization I thought I’d try it, but in the back of my head, I thought it could be a scam. My teenage son has mental health issues and has to see a therapist and psychiatrist quite often. Sometimes he ends up in the hospital for emergency visits or overnight stays for observations. Our family has private insurance. Deductibles and copays are very high. It’s been an extremely hard year emotionally and financially. We struggle to pay bills.
So I got brave and called the CJK Foundation thinking I would most likely get an answering machine preparing to leave a voicemail. I was wrong. The nicest person Krissy picked up the phone, listen to me, and understood my concerns. She said that I called the right place. She said that this organization could really help financially, I just needed to fill the form on their website, write a detailed explanation of why we needed financial assistance, and include copies of medical bills associated with his mental health. I email everything to the organization. I did everything she instructed me to do and shortly after she replied and said the team had approved and paid for my son’s ER visit and a few therapist visits right before Christmas!!! They paid those places directly! We are beyond happy!!! This organization is legit!!! I was referred to them by one of the mobile crisis social workers who had to see my son not so long ago. Best experience with CJK foundation. It was the best Christmas present!
Karli
Where do I begin...
Brian Klanica introduced himself into my life at one of the hardest times. Not only for myself but for my mother. My mom and I live on opposite ends of the country, so I don’t get to see her very often. In December 2018, I had a “hunch” that something was wrong. Not because she told me, but because you just know when your loved ones are struggling. It wasn’t until I arrived that I realized just how bad it was.
A brief history of my mother: she was a hospice nurse for nearly 30 years. Throughout that time, she lost every single one of her patients, with one exception. Can you imagine? You build relationships with not only the patients but their families as well. Every day she would know that they would one day be gone and she would see them after or oftentimes be there holding their hand until their last breath. Families instill so much love and trust into their hospice nurses, end-of-life care demands a heart and strength that very few have. With that being said, my mother spent more than half of her life staying strong for others and completely lost herself.
Depression runs in our family; I knew my mother struggled with depression daily. She was always able to function, get herself out of bed and try to treat it to the best of her ability. She never quit, ever.
This time was different. When I arrived, I had never seen someone whose mind and body had been completely taken over by something many of us cannot understand. The house was dark, her nails weren’t painted, her bed wasn’t made, the list goes on. When you know my mother, you know that these things and many more were not normal. Her eyes... I felt like I was looking into someone else’s eyes. I could see and feel the pain emanating from her body. She would often say simple things that would “make her want to kill herself” in what she thought was a joking way, but I knew it wasn’t.
Since I was born, my mother never stopped working. All hours of the day and night, she would answer the calls. But this time, in particular, I asked her when she needed to work, she said that she didn’t. That made my heart stop, as she started to cry. She had lost her job, her only source of income. Her depression took over, making it impossible to get out of bed, and she had fallen so far behind that they had no choice. My mother was never known to ask for help, and she never did. She had no energy. She would sleep until the afternoon hours.
My once positive, hardworking, smiling, mother full of laughter was completely taken over by a mental health illness: depression.
I started a GoFundMe page, “Love for Dana.” This was something my mother did not want me to do, something I too felt went against our character. Asking for money? She never raised me to do that. She raised me to work, work and work some more and that we are responsible for ourselves. This time, it was out of my hands. I only make a police officer’s salary from across the country. Her lease was coming to an end, she no longer had health insurance, she still had unpaid bills. She was suffering for far longer than I even know now, and never asked for help. It was time she asked for help. Still, I tried not to share on social media, I knew that was not what my mom would have wanted. Attention was never her goal for good or bad.
With that being said, I was sitting in my backyard on a beautiful sunny evening when I received a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize. I normally ignore these calls, but something told me to answer it. I did, and God had sent me an angel who was on the other line.
On the other line, Brian Klanica introduced himself and said he came across my GoFundMe page for my mother. He explained that depression hits close to home for him and his family as depression took his wife, Connie Klanica far too soon. He started The CJK Foundation to help those struggling with depression and he wanted to help. Tears filled my eyes almost immediately upon answering the phone. His story, hearing his struggles, and hearing his empathetic words was unlike any other. With The CJK Foundation, he wanted to assist in relieving some of my mother’s financial burden. Without this phone call, without Brian and his amazing team, I honestly do not know what we would have done.
As a Police Officer, my first instinct would be to question “who” this person might be and how they’re scamming me. But this wasn’t a scam, this was a complete blessing and God was working hard to bring us together. Shortly thereafter, I went to Brian’s office and met him and Connie’s amazing family. The love, empathy, and support they showed me are indescribable.
At the end of the meeting, they handed me a book, Jesus Calling. This book just happened to be a book I saw daily next to my mother’s bed for years. I broke down into tears and still cannot believe the impact this foundation has had on me and my family, in addition to all others they have helped struggling with depression.
Although I am writing this nearly two years later, the struggles continue. It has been hard for me to put pen to paper when I still don’t know my mother’s outcome. I was expecting to have a success story, but each day is a new day. This organization jump-started the positive progression for my mother and that is what I would like to share with others. Physical illness has introduced itself throughout the year 2020. Right when things were beginning to look up, this year hit. It is not just my mother — as a police officer, I see depression take people when it is not even close to their time. This year especially, there are many struggling and I pray for them. I send strength to all those who feel weak and love to all of those who feel alone.
To understand this mental illness, someone needs to have struggled from it or be very close to someone who has hit rock bottom. There are way too many people out there who have a hard time understanding how it impacts someone on a mental and physical level. This family does and is determined to help others so they won’t have to endure the struggle and pain. I pray for Brian, his children, and all of their families often.