For me social anxiety is like this: It’s not wanting people to look at me when I’ve put on makeup because they might see my flaws, but then not wanting them to ignore me either because that hurts my feelings as a highly sensitive person. It’s not wanting to feel their eyeballs on my skin [...]
As advocates for mental health and help seeking, we often discover that a great chasm separating us from help is gouged open by fear and shame. Treatments have become more effective, and more people in our community voice their support, yet it seems that too many people who need help slip through the cracks and [...]
It's breaking my heart...this divide. It's tearing me apart. The drama, the perceived slights, the resentment, and bickering...this isn't what I imagined we would become. Growing up, it was always us. Sisters. Blood is thicker than water. Our parents raised us to look out for one another, to support one another in each new endeavor. [...]
I Am Surely Dying... It truly amazes me how in the matter of just a few days, my body and my brain, can completely double cross me... A friend of mine recently posted how we are less than 200 days away from Christmas. This had me thinking about last Christmas and my immediate family that [...]
Read part 1 here. Samantha soon warned me that in the not-so-distant future, she would possibly not be in contact with me for a few days, and I accepted it, because I loved her, and I knew it was something she had to do. She ended up breaking her promise, and I got to see [...]
To Be Both Client and Clinician By Vincent J. Fitzgerald I sit in serene, soft light and contemplate what is safe to share, and what I should withhold. My war against anxiety is fought on many fronts, and I am battle weary from its barrage of multiple manifestations. Across from me a person waits for [...]
I was raised to believe slaves were the only black people who had the right to be depressed. So when I stayed in my bedroom for days at a time, silent and suicidal, my family’s encouragement was that “things could be worse.” If my ancestors survived slavery with no mental health treatment, then I certainly [...]
Cuts to Mental Health Services – Risky Business With more mental health awareness comes more education. In an ideal world this should translate into more accessibility to more services. Canada prides itself on being a country with supposed universal access to healthcare. We are lucky here to have it. No argument there. Canadians do pay [...]
Part 1: My mental illness journey is a long and circuitous one. It began as soon as I could tell the difference between sad and happy. It now continues today, although I am fortunate and proud to be in recovery. My father was an abusive person, both to my mother and myself. We always [...]
Are you worth fighting for? There was a time when we were close. I looked to you as a mentor, a father figure. Now, the only thing you do is criticize me. I wish you could see the good in me. I wish you could support me. I know that you are a narcissist. But, [...]
