The symptoms first appeared when she was 3 years old but Susan King was too young to fathom that anything was unusual. Didn’t everyone hear voices in their head? Wasn’t it normal to see things that weren’t actually there?

When she was old enough to know better, King confided in her grandmother.

“She told me not to tell anyone,” King recalled. “She said they would never understand.”

Oh, King later realized, my grandma suffered from psychosis, too.

“Mental illness is not contagious but it does run in families,” King said with a whatcha-gonna-do? lightness. “In my family, it ran on both sides. Our family tree is the nut variety.”

King’s comfort in discussing her issues with mental health is the result of confronting her own personal loss, years lost to homelessness and addiction, and a dedication to reclaiming her life that has been rewarded with a happiness she is all to eager to share.

Born in Hermosa Beach, Calif., King moved to Maui in 1969 with her family when she was 14 years old.

After graduating from Lahainaluna High School, she worked to support herself. At 25, she met and married Nicholas Awai, and they had two children, Damien and Sanoe.

Awai died of a stroke in 1990. The loss sent King into a deep depression, one she knew she had to address if she was going to be able to take care of her children, then just 14 and 8. She sought professional help, agreed to a regimen of antidepressant medication to allay her symptoms, and for several years was able to keep things together.

Years later, an old friend she had not seen since his deployment to Vietnam got in touch. They reconnected and got married in 1997.

King moved to the mainland, where her husband received treatments for health issues related to his service in the Vietnam War. What King was unaware of, was that her new husband was a drug addict. Worse, King felt so normalized by her antidepressant medications that she felt she didn’t need them anymore. She stopped, triggering a withdrawal that exacerbated her underlying psychosis and left her psychologically adrift. Before long, she, too, was taking methamphetamine, a “wonderfully elusive, seductive drug.” She had become a first-time drug addict at midlife.

King’s second husband died in 2001, leaving King stranded on the mainland with a powerful addiction and little means of taking care of herself. In her lowest moment, she found herself sitting in her car, “higher than a kite,” composing a 23-page suicide note as she casually downed 30 Vicodin tablets.

She survived the attempt and was sent to Arrowhead Behavioral Health in California. After an extended stay there and a couple of more hospitalizations to properly stabilize, she made her way to Washington state, with help of her mother, to stay with her brother. When the time was right, her son Damien flew up to bring her back to Maui.

There King began rebuilding her life with help from the state Adult Mental Health Division and its Hale O Lanakila Clubhouse, where over the span of five years she undertook a variety of training programs and completed certified peer specialist training.

She then served an internship at Mental Health Kokua, a nonprofit corporation that specializes in helping people recovering from mental illness and related challenges.

“From the beginning, they welcomed me with open arms,” King said. “I really liked the atmosphere. It was a place people could go to grow and learn about being a consumer and a human being.”

King continued to volunteer with the organization after her internship ended and eventually was hired to lead their Psychosocial Rehabilitation Program, which helps clients develop skills necessary for independent living. Redubbed the Activity Center, the program provides drop-in services as well as a full calendar of activities that encourage clients to be active in their daily lives.

Each Tuesday, King visits the Maui Food Bank to get food to distribute to clients in need. The program also provides clients with two meals a day. Twice a month, King hosts a backyard barbecue at the facility, with provisions paid for with the money they get from recycling bottles and cans from all those food bank donations. Every other week, she takes clients on “adventures” around the island, from visits to Haleakala to picnics at Giggle Hill Park in Kahului.

“We put the ‘fun’ in ‘dysfunctional,’” she quipped.

In all seriousness, King said she is happier than she has ever been. Her work at MHK has allowed her to get off of disability assistance. She has her own home (purchased via Habitat for Humanity), her own car and her own cat, a slightly nervous Maine coon she calls “Cujo.” More than that, she loves the work that she does, helping people with whom she so closely empathizes.

“I tell people the same three things,” she said. “Keep your appointments, take your meds and be honest.”

MHK is celebrating its 45th anniversary with a dinner celebration from 6 to 9 p.m. on Oct. 5 at the Koolau Ballrooms & Conference Center in Kaneohe. Entertainment will include a performance by Makaha Sons. To purchase a ticket, visit 808ne.ws/2x2c0sd.

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.