Finding hope through bipolar disorder support

Twenty-five years ago, Tim Kempf believed he was heading to New York City to help save the country.

It was just after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. At 40 years old, Tim loaded up a truck and trailer with supplies and equipment, determined to help survivors and “fight any terrorist,” as he described it. He visited businesses around Evansville asking for donations to fund the trip, behavior his family immediately recognized as unusual.

“I became what I called a self-proclaimed freedom fighter,” Tim said.

He never made it out of town. His brothers intervened, calling the police, who recognized something was wrong. His family met him at St. Mary’s (now Ascension St. Vincent Evansville), where, on Sept. 27, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Looking back now, Tim says he can see what his family saw then.

“I was totally in a full manic episode,” he said. “Understanding and functioning. But what I wanted to do was very out of character.”

For his mother, Edwina Kempf, the diagnosis brought confusion and fear.

“We were all worried,” she said. “The family was worried. We never even heard of it.”

But for Tim, the diagnosis also helped explain moments from years earlier that had never fully made sense. He believes his first manic episode happened in 1995 after the Oklahoma City bombing. At 34, he drove to Oklahoma City to help with recovery efforts, staying for a month before suddenly driving west to Scottsdale, Arizona, without telling his family where he was going.

“You just don’t jump in the truck without saying goodbye to your family and just drive for two months,” he said.

After his diagnosis and attending support groups that never felt quite right, Tim decided to create the kind of group he wished had existed. In June 2006, with support from his mother and St. Mary’s Foundation, the Kempf Bipolar Wellness Center and the bipolar support group were born.

“The goal was really to help other people who are living with the same illness,” Tim said.

What started as a small local support group grew into one of the largest bipolar support groups in Indiana, according to a 2015 Courier & Press article.

Now, 20 years later, the peer-led group continues meeting regularly, offering a place where people living with bipolar disorder, along with parents, spouses, siblings and friends, can openly talk about their experiences and feel understood. 

“If you were a doctor or a counselor leading this group and someone asked, ‘Have you ever felt like you were on top of the world and could do anything?’ you might not know how to answer,” he said. “It’s easier for me as a peer to say, ‘Hey, I’ve been there, done that. I know how you feel.’”

The journey hasn’t always been easy. But even through setbacks, Tim continued building a life rooted in work, family and service to others.

Today, he says stability came through persistence, medication and perspective.

“I’m in a good place as far as my mental health goes,” he said.

While he acknowledges bipolar disorder is not easy, he hopes others understand that a diagnosis does not mean the end of a meaningful life.

“If you look at life in a positive way, you take your medicine, then your life won’t be a roller coaster,” he said. “Why wouldn’t you do it?”

For Edwina, now approaching 97, watching her son’s journey come full circle has been one of the greatest joys of her life.

“It’s a wonderful feeling to see how he’s doing now,” she said.

Today, the support group meets in the Kempf Bipolar Wellness Center at the Ascension St. Vincent Evansville Rehabilitation Institute on the third Wednesday of each month from 6-7:30 p.m. You may call 812-485-1439 to be added to the support group invitation.

The group remains free and open to the community, continuing the same mission Tim envisioned nearly two decades ago: creating a place where no one has to navigate bipolar disorder alone.

If you or a loved one is experiencing an immediate life-threatening emergency, go directly to the ER or call 911.