Personal Stories

A friend once told me, you are never weak when you seek help. Speak up about the issues you are facing and find strength in vulnerability.

"To you reading this, I hope you find yourself, I hope you find prosperity, and I hope you pass the torch and provide encouragement to your peers."

"I have a NAMI family that deeply cares as I strive to heal wounds within myself and my household."

We talk a lot about the people who attempt or die by suicide. But what happens to the people they leave behind?

"I have a host of mental illnesses, but out of them, my PTSD and BPD affect me the most."

To me, recovery means validating my own feelings, trusting in my experiences and admitting that it was not my fault.

To my family: thank you for encouraging me to seek help and for reassuring me that it’s okay to take medication for depression because it is, after all, caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain.

If you are in crisis mode right now, all you need to do is survive. Everything else in your life will come with time but for now just focus on surviving. Focus on not listening to your suicidal thoughts.

I went from that girl who would always smile and laugh or make jokes to the girl who locked herself in her room all day. I started to have trouble sleeping. I would lay awake at night and stare into the darkness and be consumed with anxiety at the thought of my future.

Deep inside I knew they wanted my state to improve, but all they did was urge me to stop listening to those thoughts as commands. “Ignore them!” they said. They just didn’t understand it wasn’t under my control.