Nuçi’s Space: He Continues

If you have ever ventured past the arch and onto Oconee Street, a small, bluish- purple building may have caught your eye. This vibrantly hued establishment, which stands out against its neighboring buildings, is Nuçi’s Space . What goes on inside is every bit as unique as the outside décor.

Nuçi Phillips was a musician and University of Georgia student in 1996 when he shot and killed himself after battling clinical depression. In 1999, Nuçi’s mother, Linda Phillips, founded the Nuçi Phillips Memorial Foundation, or Nuçi’s Space, in his honor.

 

The non-profit organization provides discounted health and music resources to Athens-area musicians.

“My goal in creating Nuçi’s Space was to hopefully save as many families as possible from experiencing the terrible loss that my family did when we lost Nuçi,” Phillips said in an email interview.

“To do this, I wanted to remove as many obstacles to receiving treatment as possible,” Phillips said. “The two main reasons that keep people from seeking treatment are stigma and money. We address both of these at Nuçi’s Space.”

Phillips, 64, has definitely achieved the goal of affordability. Athens-area musicians who are suffering from depression and other related mental illnesses pay next to nothing to receive treatment.

Phillips talks with the individuals who come to Nuçi’s Space to receive treatment and refers them to a counselor based on their personalities and specific needs. The cost to see a psychologist is $10. If the clients need medical treatment, they pay $20 to see a psychiatrist. Nuçi’s Space covers the remainder of the cost.

Full-time Nuçi’s Space staff member Laura Ford said that she feels that affordable treatment is particularly important for musicians, who spend a lot of time working on their music.

“If you are a musician, it is really difficult to get insurance because, most likely, you are only working part-time,” Ford said.

Although Nuçi’s Space aims to support anyone in the Athens area who is suffering from or affected by mental illness, the discounted mental health services are only for musicians. 

Nuçi’s Space receives some small grants that help keep the organization going, but most of the funding comes from private donations.

“We just don’t have the funds to treat anyone who walks through the door,” Ford said.

Phillips’ other goal of removing the stigma attached to mental illness is achieved through the laid-back, welcoming atmosphere at Nuçi’s Space. With features like free wireless Internet, couches, a coffee bar, a wall covered with music records and three practice rooms that local musicians can rent for a small fee, the interior of the building is a far cry from what one would consider the typical environment of a mental health resource center.

Staff member Ford, whose brother committed suicide when she was in college, got her job at Nuçi’s Space after meeting Phillips at a Survivors of Suicide meeting. She said she felt comfortable working there right away.

“I am not a musician, and when I first came here, I kind of felt like I was at home,” Ford said.

The staff at Nuçi’s Space consists of three part-time and three full-time employees, along with volunteers and UGA student interns.

Volunteer Leslie Cobbs comes into Nuçi’s Space twice a week to answer phones and help out in any way she can. She too said she fell in love with the environment.

“People come in from literally every walk of life,” Cobbs said. “We have small children come in and, at the same time, you’ll get 60-year-old gospel guys coming in to do their stuff. It’s brilliant.”

Along with helping musicians who suffer from mental illness, Nuçi’s Space is also involved with raising awareness of mental health at the University of Georgia and in the Athens community.

Nuçi’s Space even has a student organization at UGA. The group hosted its fourth annual Depression and Suicide Awareness Week from April 13 to April 17. The week included a series of events that revolved around the topic of mental health and cumulates in a final benefit concert at Nuçi’s Space.

Another Nuçi’s Space offering is Camp Amped, which is a two-week-long day camp for 11 to 17-year-old musicians. Along with playing in bands and making friends, the campers have a chance to talk, in a daily session called Survival Skills for Creative Minds, about some of the issues that face young musicians. 

At the end of camp, the young musicians put on a grand finale concert. Ford said she loves to watch the campers transformed throughout the camp experience.

“When they first start camp, they’re just really shy and nervous, and, by the end of camp, you can just see that they have made connections with people and they are more sure of themselves,” Ford said.

“They come away like rock stars. They just get out on stage and rock when, you know, the first day they wouldn’t play an instrument in front of anybody.”

Nuçi’s Space also sponsors S.P.A.C.E. Race. S.P.A.C.E. stands for Suicide Prevention Awareness and Community Education. The race is a  5K walk-run and health fair to get the Athens community involved with the organization.

The proceeds go to Nuçi’s Space, and, after the race, participants can spend time learning helpful health tips at the health fair.

“The idea that mental health and physical health are related is completely true, and we want people to know that,” Ford said. “If you take care of your mind, your body will be healthier, and, if you take care of body, then your mind will be a little bit healthier.”

One of the first things visitors see when they walk into the main sitting area of Nuçi’s Space is a blown-up picture of Nuçi Phillips with a poem his mother wrote superimposed over it. The poem ends with the simple phrase “He continues.”

“We will never be the same, but we do go on,” Linda Phillips wrote on the Nuçi’s Space website. “All of us who love Nuçi keep him in a very special corner of our hearts called Nuçi’s Space.”