I have dealt with mental illness all my life as the road hasn’t been easy. Having 3 hospitalizations before I was 15 wasn’t easy as I had an abusive natural father and an alcoholic stepfather who’s alcoholism was denied by his youngest daughters with more mental illness issues that my alcoholic stepfather denied that I had. The 1st time that I knew that I had bipolar disorder wasn’t until I was in my early 20s and I was grateful that I was in a place that did treat me for it but it was in one of the worst areas on the north side of Chicago. I lived in several different areas of the city that I knew were dangerous as I knew gangs were a problem in the areas I lived in when I found out that alcoholism and/or drugs were a big problem within the family. Fast forward to August 27,1997 I got into a program called Emotions Anonymous which helped me get off meds with a doctors ok and a little over a year later I got into Al-Anon knowing alcoholism was a problem but didn’t realize how big of a problem was until I had left home for good November 18th, 2005 as it was the year before my stepfather died. Many other things I looked into was the possibility that I had PTSD due to the many years that I knew that I was a family member of alcoholics and/or addicts as I added Nar-Anon to the mix about a year after leaving Chicago and moving to the Phoenix area with my mother. 

                           I’m truly grateful that I still attend meetings today while dealing with my illness as I’m working everything to the best of my ability as I just celebrated 23 years in Emotions Anonymous and have 8 years in Nar-Anon..Will have 22 in Al-Anon November 19th and I know that my illness will never be put on the back burner by anyone else other than me as long as I exercise when possible, try to get my weight to a manageable level and attend my meetings I’ll be okay.