*TRIGGER WARNING*

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I will always be thankful to NAMI.  When a family member and a dear friend was clearly in need of guidance, I reached out to NAMI for support.  I was welcomed with open arms, given information to pass on and the added gift of coping skills for myself to help deal with what was brought before me.  Mental Illness comes in all shapes and sizes and the help needed is not a one size fits all.  I am able to help many now that I was given the support to help those I love. 

Hello my name is Silvia. I am from Barcelona, Spain. As you can hear I have a big accent so please stop me if you don’t understand and I will be happy to repeat it.

I am taking a class to be Family and Peer Support Specialist from NAMI California. NAMI stands for National Alliance in Mental illness.

I am here today because I want to help you. Also, I can give you some information and services that you or your family can use.

I have a life experience living with a mental heath diagnoses.

I was diagnosed 10 years ago. I felt confuse, scare and lonely.

 I used to be so ashamed of being mentally ill that I try to hard to hide it until I realize that I am who I am with my ups and downs, happy or sad.

Also, I can relate with you and your experience of being hospitalized because I was too.  I thought that I will never be able to come back to be a productive person to society and work again.

Being in a mental Hospital change me.

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Hello my name is Silvia Bures Brownlow. I am from Barcelona, Spain. As you can hear I have a big accent so please stop me if you don’t understand and I will be happy to repeat it.

I am taking a class to be Family and Peer Support Specialist from NAMI California. NAMI stands for National Alliance in Mental illness.

I am here today because I want to help you. Also, I can give you some information and services that you or your family can use.

I have a life experience living with a mental heath diagnoses.

I was diagnosed 10 years ago. I felt confused, scared and lonely.

 I used to be so ashamed of being mentally ill that I try to hard to hide it until I realize that I am who I am with my ups and downs, happy or sad.

Also, I can relate with you and your experience of being hospitalized because I was too.  I thought that I will never be able to come back to be a productive person to society and work again.

Being in a mental Hospital change me.

Keep reading

The journey of life with mental illness is difficult at times. There are high days as well as low days. What makes the journey all the more complicated is raising a child with the same journey to face. In 2011, my daughter began showing signs of mental illness. I wanted to deny the possibility, as I know all too well the challenges that come with a diagnosis. I know the trial and error of medication. I know the feelings if isolation. I know the pain. In 2012, my teen daughter was diagnosed with depression and ADHD. She also was given a Bipolar diagnosis. The pain that struck me was overwhelming. I found solace in prayer and meditation. I assumed more time in church would help her cope, but it did not. She ran away, began cutting, began fabricating traumas, and much more. While all of this was occurring, I took custody of my niece. My niece was unfamiliar with mental illness and learned to see beyond my daughter’s issues. As the  mentally ill mother of a mentally ill child, I often feel inadequate for the task at hand. I had to gain control of my issues in order to learn to cope with hers. I have to maintain my stability in order to give her stability. As much as I love working, I rarely can, because issues come up often with my daughter and I have only had 2 understanding employers, one being a family member. Any mentally ill parent of a mentally ill child has to maintain thier mental health, because a wounded warrior rarely leads another wounded warrior to safety. 

Remember you are not define by your mental illness. Your hope becomes your recovery. Your strengths and positive coping strategies empower your destiny to recover.

Recovery is possible if you believe that you are not your diagnosis. The road to recovery is not easy. Hope, strength, support, determination, and education on mental illness can help an individual with a mental illness recover so that they can live a productive and gratifying life in their community. Some individuals with mental illness can work, attend and graduate from college, buy a home, and have families.

Hope equals maintaining a mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy lifestyle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello, my diagnosis is schizo-affective disorder, and even though I suffer from a severe mental illness, and struggle with some of the symptoms, I still see hope, everyone has been supportive and fully understanding, so if anyone who is living or coping with mental illness out there if you walking through hell right now, keep walking, it will get better I promise.

My last story was “Mental Ilness - I am Me I will always be Me I have the ability to Cope and Adapt.”

Wow, here we are in the year 2014 and almost half the year is over. 2013 seemed to be a blur at times for me. I was in the Hospital twice for my Mental Illness (trying to commit suicide) and in a Partial Hospitalization Program to help me with coping skills and try to help me adjust for the next step of my life, Recovery - such a word and at times so difficult to achieve.

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The point of why I’m writing here is to say, “Absolutely Not!” to speak up and stand up for myself and against perpetuating the stigma of having a mental illness. I am 41 years old and yesterday I went to my doctor to get new meds for a persistent chest cold. I have been coping with a sinus infection that has worsened into bronchitis. Along with this, two months ago I received my first neurological psych evaluation, the diagnoses which have been on my mind recently. I have low levels of ADD, anxiety and depression. It also said that I have a high probability of being on the bi-polar spectrum, however the tests I underwent do not specifically test for Bi-Polar disorder. I have had a history of depressive periods, trichotillomania and an unsteady work history. I also have vaso vega syncope which means I overthink having blood drawn at the Dr.’s office and pass out.

So yesterday when investigating my chest cold, my doctor wanted to take a blood test and I said no, that I had not drank enough liquids and I needed to be warned before, because I had vaso vega syncope. Then he told me it’s all in my head, that I was doing this to myself and proceeded to tell me to lie down, pull the table out from under my legs and try looking for veins. I got up and refused. He told me outright I was mentally ill and this truly upset the sh** out of me. I became very angry but the rest of the visit continued.  Afterwards, he made several snarky, disrespectful comments but I did get the medications I need and am now starting to feel better.

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Understanding how to provide support for someone who is suffering from a mental illness can be overwhelming and emotionally exhausting, and there are few good resources told from the perspective of the mentally ill for the support of the family/spouse.  Here are a few quick insights from us, a husband and wife who have navigated these rough waters together for several years. 

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