by Allie Burke I met Michelle Hammer years ago through a mutual passion to reduce stigma associated with schizophrenia. I remember feeling so awed and inspired by her because she was so artistic and brilliant. Not only did I respect her for what she was doing but I genuinely wanted to be her friend because [...]
by Lamont Derrickson The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) describes schizophrenia as "a chronic and severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. People with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality. Although schizophrenia is not as common as other mental disorders, the symptoms can be very [...]
Dear Stigma Fighters Community, I want to say thank you for welcoming me into your hearts to open up about living with schizophrenia. That is not always the case – I have lost many friends simply by saying I am Schizophrenic, and though schizophrenia is not always the most talked about disorder, even in most [...]
by Allie Burke Spoiler alert: you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I happened to be scrolling Twitter yesterday and came across a tweet that suggested something about mental health and advocacy that I hadn’t ever considered before. […]
As I sit here writing this we are on night three of sitting in the ER with my 12-year-old son Judah, waiting for a bed in the peds psych unit. There are 5 beds in this hospital unit and 7 kids waiting, 6 of them are ahead of my son. The average wait in the [...]
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 [...]
Is admitting being a victim of child sexual abuse courageous? There are times I doubt this power as I look at myself in the mirror. I am still remarkably human. The hair fades in color and quantity. The waist still expands as if my stomach had a mind of its own. I still have flaws, [...]
The world was spinning again. It was as though I could hear everything and nothing all at once. A constant buzzing of sound. A voice that I didn’t recognize was trying to explain something, but what was that voice trying to say? It was important, very important. Why didn’t they understand? Why was she looking [...]
This Is What Depression Looks Like Earlier this year, I came off of my antidepressant medication. It was a poorly thought out decision, (I have a pretty difficult history with depression and mental illness), and I did it cold turkey, even though I knew better. Still, I thought I’d be okay. I wasn’t okay. The [...]
The Delusional Thinking Process: To the Victor Go the Spoils In the old days of war, the winning army pretty much got to loot the countryside and take what they wanted—wealth, crops, women, whatever. These would be the spoils of victory. In a relatively civilized setting, we tend to use this term symbolically or [...]
