Trying to deal with a bipolar diagnosis, alcohol-abuse, self-harm, and hallucinations is a lot to take on. When Jessica Drake-Thomas met her emotional therapy animal, Mia, the road to recovery became much more clear.
Natalie Rodriguez knew she needed therapy for her anxiety and panic attacks; but she had to fight against shame and stigma to get that help.
by Maury Joseph
This was not exactly the learning I wanted when I went to graduate school, but the lifelong journey of becoming a therapist, is the therapy I have needed.
by Bud Clayman & Laura Farrell
In the first episode of OC87 Recovery Diaries on the Radio, join Laura Farrell and Bud Clayman as they interview each other about their own mental health journeys.
People say the first step in therapy is acceptance. I can’t speak for others, but I’ve started taking my steps. It’s okay if you want to take yours.
The trauma that has affected me the most happened when I was nineteen years old. After that experience, EMDR therapy taught me to trust myself and my body.
I finally I agreed to ECT (electroconvulsive therapy). I was both intrigued and terrified. After my ECT treatments I started to feel like a human again.
by Steph Sikora
Stephanie has amazingly coped with her disorder through her love of equine therapy for mental health. Her trust in horses has allowed her to trust people.
by Evelyn Sachs
Evelyn Sachs won’t stand for electroconvulsive therapy being just another cheap “Cuckoo’s Nest” reference; it has helped with her bipolar depression.
by Erica Mones
In middle school, Erica began to notice her weight and developed disordered thinking about her body in an attempt to control it. Through recovery, Erica learned that her need to control her body was in part to make her disability less noticeable to others.
Christopher Dale once received mentorship on how to deal with depression from a man who knew the disease well. Now he’s learning to do the same for his son.
Jason Schreurs zig-zags through different moments in his life, finding both clarity and confusion throughout. It all coalesces with one surprise diagnosis.
by Sharon Wise
As a police officer, trauma, PTSD, and thoughts of suicide threatened to end Constable James Jefferson’s career, and his life, but he wouldn’t allow it.
Severus Snape saved my life; a life lived with seemingly endless pain and despair due to anxiety and depression, writes Giovanna Errore from Italy.
by Steve Fedele
A mental health peer specialist takes us inside to show us what it is like to work with clinicians to help individuals with mental illness recover and thrive.
Isaac Nunoofio felt treating his depression was a hopeless cause, and then he found singing.
Leigh Abraham spent much of his life thinking his failures belonged to him, but not his accomplishments. Then he found baseball.
by Alex Andrews
Teenager Alex Andrews was well-acquainted with her school’s bathroom floor, where she wrestled with sometimes crippling anxiety and depression.
by Peter Leman
Peter Leman, a university professor with depression, discloses to his students to help bust the stigma of mental illness on college campuses.