So what is Maximon?

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We, of course, get this question all the time.

 

We’ll start the answer with a question…what’s in a name?  To us, the significance of the name of a company should reflect either the focus of the company (e.g., National Broadcasting Company or NBC), the values of the company (e.g, The Honest Company), or the people that it is intended to serve (e.g., West County Health Centers).

 

In our case, it’s (d.) All of the Above.

 

Maximón is a holy figure found in Mayan culture, derived from San (Saint) Simón who is at the same time widely revered and widely ridiculed, and subsequently, widely misunderstood. 

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Positive descriptors include calling him a Champion for the Hopeless for his willingness to work with anyone for just about any request; a provider to the people of the necessities in life including money, health, employment, and housing, often called upon by those labeled “misfits” or “outcasts” of society: gamblers, addicts, etc., and; the Great Grandfather who is called on to destroy sorcery/witchcraft, for removing obstacles, for granting wealth, and for good fortune.  Negative descriptors paint him as a drunk, smoker, womanizer, and addict himself where worshippers offer up alcohol and tobacco at his altar.

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These descriptors, positive and negative, swirl around our industry as providers and the patients we serve.  Mental illness itself is widely misunderstood.  As in the mythology of Maximón, patients are often painted as misfits, outcasts, drunks, drug-seeking, helpless addicts…and much worse.   

 

Our focus at Maximon is to increase awareness of the etiology of this disease…that indeed it is a disease and not a weakness, and that 50% of people at some point in their life will have a personal experience with this disease.  We value those that are suffering from mental illness and aim to provide care from a position of reverence and empathy, understanding that we are imperfect ourselves.  We intend to serve ALL the so-called misfits, drunks, and helpless addicts to guide them onto a path of wellness so they can gain the necessities of life that “normal” people enjoy. 

 

And is anyone really…normal?  Anxiety, depression, addiction, and even psychosis can strike any so-called normal person – like physical illness, mental illness does not discriminate.  And neither should we judge.  As healthcare professionals, our duty should be to remove barriers to accessing care for those that need our help…our mothers, our brothers, our children…ourselves.

 

Thus, Maximon.