Stand and Share Your Story

God, I love this quote!  I want to plaster it on billboards and t-shirts!  Never in my life have I been afraid to share my story, talk about my struggles, and celebrate my successes.  To some, this is considered brave.  To others, stupid.  Some even distance themselves from me because they fear that MY story will somehow impact THEIR story in a negative way.  Whatever.  To each their own.

The Mental Health Family Tree

Although I love both the visual and the sentiment expressed by the above graphic, I beg to differ.  I do not claim to speak for everyone's experience, but it has been my own experience that when the branches of that family tree contain mental illness or mental health issues, the roots do not keep us all together.  The roots divide us.  Sometimes permanently.

A-N-X-I-E-T-Y

This week's blog post is brought to you by my 13-year-old son.  I have spoken of him before.  He was diagnosed with a Generalized Anxiety Disorder at the age of 7.  Recently, his school held a public speaking competition and all the kids were expected to write and present a speech, 3 to 5 minutes in length.  These speeches were presented in class, and then some were selected to present their speeches to a panel of judges from the community in the school gym.

Diagnosis: Drama Queen

We all know that the field of Mental Health has taken leaps and bounds in the past few years.  The information, support, and mental healthcare available to our children today is far superior to what our generation (speaking as someone in their 40s) had access to.  Was it that mental healthcare wasn’t accessible back then, or what it just that children’s mental health wasn’t “a thing” when we were kids?

My Intervention Addiction

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the show "Intervention" on A&E.  It's brilliant.  And heartbreaking.  And frustrating.  And gut-wrenching.  And uplifting.  It is all of those things and more.  Which is why I consider myself to be a bit of an Intervention addict.  I cannot get enough of this show.  Sunday nights I am glued to A&E.  If there's a marathon playing, I'm watching.  And don't even ask me how many hours I've watched online.  I have truly lost count!

Taming the Worry Dragons

My 13 year old son started with a new therapist recently.  We moved to a new town about 6 months ago and have been searching for someone suitable since our move.  He had been in therapy previously for his Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and had been utilizing the skills he had been taught over the years, but we knew that ongoing support in the form of therapy would be necessary for him.  Navigating the teen years without anxiety is hard enough.  Navigating it WITH anxiety is going to be a challenge.

The Coffee Lie

I should preface this blog post by saying that I'm a little pissed off at the moment.  No, no, that's not true.  I'm a LOT pissed off at the moment.  And that anger has led to hurt, and confusion......and this blog post.