I was once a child filled with inspiration and love for the world around me. I found beauty in the smallest of things and that is what made me special. What made me special to others was the fact that I was a little girl; an object to be used. I was abused in ways which words cannot express and that inspiration and love left my little body and the spark for life left my eyes. I became an echo of who I was supposed to be and there was nothing that anyone could do about it. This darkness ran in the family and it grabbed ahold of my heart and wouldn’t let it go.
As I grew I found solace in art; any type of art that could express the dark void inside became my sound escape from my reality. In time I began to find a new meaning through educating myself about others who had gone through what I had. Scoring 9 out of 10 on the ACE score, it was highly predicted that I wouldn’t amount to anything, but I have. No money, little family, no friends, but education was the key. I graduated a year and a half early in the top 5% of my class in high school; I graduated Sum Cum Laude with my Bachelor’s degree in psychology and am now working towards my PhD in clinical psychology whilst working fulltime for the Department of Child Safety for my state government.

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This the continuation from my first submission , it got sent on an accident and it wasn’t completed.  So what I was saying is when I read Harvest time on NAMI’s not alone page when she talked about the Good Seeds & Bad Seeds , I understood what she meant plant good seeds and receive a good Harvest, and throw a way the Bad Seeds an don’t pass them on to anyone.  I realize that that is the truest statement that I read , I realized that that is what I’ve been doing all my life, with my children , husband, with everyone and allowing others to throw there Bad seeds on me.  So With that being said, I’m going to do my very best to cope and plant good seeds and throw away the bad.  I going to go to this DUI school  an get my license back , continue my therapy ,continue my Meds and most of  all plant good seeds an take care of myself.  and know truly,  believe that there is no HOPLESS SITUATION. 

A few months ago someone asked me if there was anything good about living with depression.  I answered the question but I must admit that I was stumped by it.  What could possibly be good about living with depression or any other mental illness? After all my mental illness has repeatedly pounded me into submission, driven me to my bed for days, and pushed me past the end of myself for thirty-nine years. I have struggled through the seemingly impossible task of finding a decent psychiatrist combined with the stressful experiential process of figuring out the correct medication regime, and cloudy thinking that is the hallmark of a mental health crisis. Then there is the stigma that continues to cloak many of my fellow mental illness road warriors with a shame that only impedes our healing.  The pain of living with a mental illness sometimes exacts a toll that is too high to pay. Viewed through this lens it would be reasonable to conclude that there is nothing good about living with depression or any other mental illness.  However, if nothing else living with depression has taught me to look beyond what seems reasonable or logical to my unquiet mind.  

I am a believer and person of faith.  As such I choose to view my mental illness through the Word of God.  Now I know that I lost some of you when I mentioned God and the Bible.  Before you stop reading, I implore you to consider the entirety of my post.  I urge you to take what speaks to you and leave the rest.

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Hello everybody,

My name Gary. I have struggled with mental illness ever since I was 7 years old. When I was born, I was born with a disease or syndrome that people and medical experts were not fimilar with or even had the slightest idea how to treat me in the early 1990s. I was born with aspergers  syndrome a type of disorder from the autism spectrum disorder list. My mother at the time was unsure of what I would become or if I were to have any sort of delayment. The doctors advised my mother to put me in an psychiatric institution to allow me to be so called properly taken care of. Thank God that my parents, didn’t do that. Instead they loved me unconditionally and gave me the best. I went through intensive speech and language therapy as well as being put in social engagements. As I progressed throughout elementary, and half of middle school I was placed in special education. When I got to high school I broke out of the constraints of special education and began taking mainstream courses. I’m the school Distric that I attended it was mandatory to pass a equivalency test to determine my ability to graduate high school. So I took the test (MCAS) and I scored exceptionally high and it granted me the ability to go to any state or university in the state of Massachusetts. So because I had scored such an high score, I had been also studying and taking extra classes to graduate early. So I graduated at 16 years old. I then went to a community college that I paid for and received my associates degree from Cape Cod community college in clinical social work (psychology). I then went to a Framingham state university  that I used my Massachusetts  (MCAS) grant money towards and double majored in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience as well as a major in social work. I received my master’s degree as a result. I later went on to become a licensed independent clinical social worker as well as a peer specialist, specializing in mental illness. I am so grateful that I had such great parents who never gave up and kept the fire lit. I’m grateful that I had the ability to meet so many kind hearted individuals who taught me to succeed and to never give up. I am also very grateful to NAMI for being a supportive environment and for always being there when I was in need.

My story is about not giving up and going the extra mile to do what you desire. To not be ashamed of asking for help and to always look forward!

I thank you for reading my story and I hope that It can inspire you to succeed.

All the best,

Gary T. Hardaway, Jr., LICSW  

Mental illnesses are difficult to deal with. Many people have them of all ages too. And even if you have the same illness as someone else they are very different so I can’t tell you what to do about it I’m not a therapist but I can tell you my story (so far!) and hope it gives someone inspiration.

My name is Athena and I am dealing with severe depression and don’t want to accept it even saying it, is weird but it is there and it is a struggle because when every day all you can do is look at the bad things and look in the future and only see the memories you will NOT make is difficult none the less but I manage on my own. I haven’t told anyone its a secrecy and no I don’t take medication I just find something to distract me I go on YouTube or find a hobby even sitting in the garden is stress relieving I can’t say it will work for everyone but maybe it will. I have tried to commit suicide but its okay . Sometimes I just think positively and it can be really hard to do but I do it I think if the future isn’t here yet then how can I know what will happen I know I’m safe no matter what . Nothing in my life really is looking up but I’m not gonna give up , neither should you because who knows? Maybe a miracle is waiting just around the corner!

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Sometimes the trauma we experience is not definable in terms of scientific research or assessments. Sometimes depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues are never actually diagnosed but somehow those of us who experience these issues deal with them on a daily basis and find inspiration and hope in our communities and inside ourselves.  

I, like many others, have experienced multiple traumas in my life including rape, abandonment, intimate partner violence, a diagnosis of a “terminal” disease, homelessness, and drug addiction.  Yet, somehow, I have made it through these experiences and found help along the way.  Not from the system of care (as many of us know, the system of care is not really designed to “care”), I found help in the support and love from others who have also experienced similar things.  It is their courage and compassion that gave me the strength to keep moving forward.  It is their determination and insight that helped me work through the pain and fear.  

I am forever grateful for those who guided me along the way.  Your support will never be forgotten.  Your support helped me to not only find a new way to live but to follow my passion and help others.  Even though I have been dragged through the mud, I know my worth and value has not changed.  Today, I am working on a PhD. and hope that the work I do, the community bridges from research and academia to the real world I build, can help inspire others.  May you find love and peace in your hearts

 I can’t vanish from my past

but I am on the fast track to defeat these manic attacks

I’ll conquer me and I’ll defeat this disease


Nothing can take from me, not even these anxieties


So I’ll live with bipolar disorder, but I’ll live my life without any borders.  

And I’ll be an inspiration because the minds a battlefield

 But this mind of mine holds tight to it’s shield


So I’m not afraid to say I’m mentally ill   

“You are my inspiration, my strength, and all that I hold closely. The person I laugh with or the person to cry with. Whether the day is with sunshine or not. You are my other half and I’m besides you no matter what. I love you dear.”

My husband-to-be has bipolar type 2 disorder. He was diagnosed a year ago, and today, he left me this lovely message. 

As a young 22 year old woman who has spent most of her years with a dysfunctional family, I am familiar with mental illness. 

When I fell in love with my husband-to-be, Rikki, I didn’t know he was diagnosed with bipolar type 2 disorder, but I also didn’t stop loving him once he told me. 

As a young woman trying to find her own footing in life, I’m having trouble coping with the in’s and out’s of life lately. I’m having trouble coping with the pains of seeing my own family undergo mental illness, including that of Rikki. 

Regardless, I think a common point is rarely touched upon for those who have mental illness and those who care and love the people in their lives that have mental illness: You are both in this together. 

As a young woman used to doing things alone and without the full physical and mental support of her family, I grew up isolated and independent as a way to survive. Now that I have Rikki in my life, I’m shedding my outer skin of loneliness to reveal a stronger skin of togetherness. 

My husband-to-be has bipolar type 2 disorder and I don’t. And yet, he remembers to include me into his life as much as I do him. He has type 2 bipolar disorder and that doesn’t mean he can’t support me or love me. I may take care of him when he has his tough times, but that doesn’t mean he can’t care for me too when he can. We support each other when we need each other most, and we continue to love each other even through the up’s and down’s of life. Caring for him doesn’t mean I’m alone, it never has and it never will. 

Life is hard enough without someone to love and grow with. It’s time I remember he is more than just a man with bipolar disorder; he is Rikki, my husband-to-be, and every day we choose to live and love life together. 

Hi, my name is Janay Monique Matthews and I have so much to share to you about my own journey through mental illness and my other disabilities I was born with. When I was born, I had so many odds going against me. I was born with a neurological disorder, cerebral palsy, ADHD, a learning disability (dyslexia), and tremor in my left leg, seizures, and a hole in my heart but it closed up. With this, the doctors though that there was no hope and that I was not going to make it past age 12. I'm Black girl who grew up in poverty and abuse. My mother has the narcissistic personality disorder with bipolar and I was abused for many years and decades by her and many others. She favorites biracial people with their so called “good hair" and thus, I thought lowly of myself thinking that I was genetically inferior and wasn’t human or up to standard. I was also sexually abused for nearly 2 years from September 2004 to May 2006 by my godfather who died in cancer in December 2006. With all of this I was also bullied, teases, drowned, screamed, and yelled at harshly by kids and adults and some teachers didn’t have high expectations of me. Some doctors, psychologists, nurses and social workers thought very lowly of me too. With all the abuse that I endured at home, I ran away a few times and got caught to be sent to the hospital. I was first diagnosed with anxiety. After graduating college in May 2012, I was worried,

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