community stories
A Psychotic Mind: My History of Schizophrenia, Self-Harm, and Suicide Attempts
*Trigger warning: Self-harm and suicide attempts As a child, I remember being happy, I remember feeling safe, but after my parent's divorce, I remember feeling so much anguish and pain. For me, self-injury was activated by my parent’s divorce. I was 11 years old when...
A Psychotic Mind: My History of Schizophrenia, Self-Harm, and Suicide Attempts
*Trigger warning: Self-harm and suicide attempts As a child, I remember being happy, I remember feeling safe, but after my parent's divorce, I remember feeling so much anguish and pain. For me,...
23 Years of Bipolar 1 and I’m Still Dancing
No. I wasn’t always OK with being bipolar. What’s more, the shame of living with such a disease, propelled to do ridiculous actions that your mania compels you to do, the guilt of feeling depressed when that logical side of your tore-up brain knows there is so much...
god does not love beyonce and me equally
At the age of 26, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Italy, and Ken Kesy published One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. At 27, I, Kellie Wood, cannot figure out the child safety lock on my bottle of CVS brand mouthwash. ...
Being Okay with Being Bipolar
I don’t know if I will ever be the person I was before Bipolar 1 Disorder took control of my life.But maybe that’s okay. We, as humans, are always evolving, always changing. Sometimes forthe better. Other times, for the worse. It is hard to accept you are subjected to...
Happy (and not-so-happy) Holiday Season
When most people think about the holiday season, they think of positive things like quality timewith family, traditions, and good memories. They’ll say “Happy Holidays!” to friends andstrangers alike, and while the intention is usually good, they fail to realize...
Remain Hopeful
A few years ago I tried taking my own life. I jumped 35 feet onto concrete. My brother took his own life when I was 21 so I already felt genetically dispositioned. Right before I jumped I remember thinking all this was too much. I felt I had the weight of the world on...
Explaining Therapy to Your Immigrant Parents
Talk about Breaking Taboo, right? Perhaps it’s the case that most parents don’t quite understand therapy and all that it has to offer, but immigrant parents are particularly averse to the concept of talk therapy. Maybe it’s tradition, maybe it’s misconceptions, or...
A Week With Bipolar
drip drip drip drip The sound of my single serve coffee maker pours out a fresh cup this Monday morning. I start to write in my journal— a scale from 1 to 5. My therapist had me do this exercise ranking how I feel on any particular day; 1 being awful, 5 feeling like I...
How Writing and Films Saved My Life
I write stories that come from personal truths through authentic life experiences to voice the realities of the human condition to shed light in areas of our darkness. My perception of our world has been shaped and forged by a plethora of experiences; some filled with...
My Shared Feelings – Poems
~ Marco Francis ~
Infinity Room: Misinterpreting anxiety as spirituality
The You Who are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies is a permanent exhibit in the Phoenix Art Museum, also known as The Firefly Room. Thousands of LED lights hang from the ceiling, with mirrors on all four of its surfaces. Though it is a small room,...
I Survived the Shittiest Year of My Life
I haven’t ticked any goals on my checklist for this year; those bumps along the roads, the failures, the doubting, self-sabotaging, things didn’t turn out the way I planned, the harsh reality that not all people around you weren’t meant to stay, and the unresolved...
Suffering Childhood PTSD as an Adult- The Struggle is Real
Tracy Snyder is a former high school English teacher turned full-time writer, and she is the mother of two wonderful children. She has been a life-long sufferer of mental health issues, and she credits a great part of her success as an educator to a student body of...
