Something I Am Proud Of:

Something I’m proud of in my journey of managing my mental illness is publishing a book of poetry about my experience with health professionals and educating them on how things are from the other side of their treatment. My book is a reflection of all the years I felt scared into silence and was forced to keep quiet. I called it “Can You Hear Me Now? Finding My Voice In A System That Stole it!”. I feel so grateful that my words were published and finally I felt like I’d got to tell my side of the story so to speak.

Advice For Newly Diagnosed:

If I could give someone newly diagnosed some advice it would probably be that it would be really powerful for them if they could learn to believe that you can LIVE with Bipolar rather than SUFFER from it. Go out on a journey of self discovery and learn exactly how the illness works so that you can learn to recognize triggers and warning signs, etc. Become your own best health professional and remember your Psychiatrist should let you be part of the treatment plan too. I said to my Psychiatrist once, “I don’t want you to save me, I want you to stand by my side as I save myself.”…..and she really does!