For me, finding my voice means coming out as gay, both to myself as well as my family and friends. I came out to my immediate family about four years ago.
Column: Mental Health
Finding our voice again can be difficult but it can also be a time of learning and growth. Recovery is a great opportunity for re-discovering yourself.
Expressing my emotions healthily allows me to voice my internal situation without using damaging behaviours.
Pouring your heart out for every person is exhausting and an overload to your emotional switchboard. It is perfectly healthy to spend some time in hermit mode...
Anyone who has stories of their own mental health issues, as well as a loved one’s mental health issues, has a voice. Sharing each story is both for your...
What do you tell people who have emerged from eating disorders then want to go into working with others in recovery?
Your brain needs care just like any other part of you--just because you can’t physically see the damage, it doesn’t make it any less important. Medication is...
In today's video, I talk about the three steps of forgiveness. Forgiveness is important for our relational health and our mental health as a whole.
Forgiveness is an important part of your recovery and of keeping a healthy mental state. The ability to move on from a hurt has a freeing affect on your mind.
In quiet time I had to think about where I was in the now, instead of in the fantasy world I constructed. My voice was angry, sad, and confused about why it...
Those of us struggling with mental health problems, more than most, can find ourselves unable to be real with people in the circumstances which would mean we...
For many of us, the holidays are times loaded with a complicated mess of feelings. Getting together with family or pals we haven’t seen in a while can be...
Establishing your own holiday routine isn’t always easy. Sometimes it even takes a lot of effort and planning. In the end, the extra thought is worth it.
It is often overwhelming to be given gifts or served while you are recovering and already managing so many internal battles. Guilt is definitely a feeling many...
It has taken me a lot of time to begin to fully rearrange my priorities to actually make recovery my goal. It has been the most rewarding, life-giving...
You are not starting over. You may have lost something. Or something may have happened to you. Or you may be feeling completely alone. But you did not lose...
Here are my top five tricks that help motivate me again when I have lost my will to keep at it.
Your feelings won’t break you. People chip, but despite all the horrid things experienced, they do not shatter. We steadily continue on, turn up the tunes, and...
I was overwhelmed with love and support and compassion through texts and emails and phone calls and cards and care packages and baby snuggles and meals. My...
Here are five guidelines to help create that feeling and use exercise to safely and positively manage your stress.
Identity doesn’t come walking through the door in a posh suit, and it doesn’t carry anyone away. Instead, it is a blanket, and each person has the power, and...
If you try to push grief away or get over it, you’re doing a disservice to yourself. Allow, allow, allow. Allow the pain, the sorrow, and the process and then...
We are not helpless when it comes to our thoughts. We can develop the ability to choose them. How amazing is this? We actually have the power to change our...
On a daily basis, you must look at yourself and take note of those small goals, and also take the time to see if you are acknowledging the accomplishments of...
The end goal is empowerment, not perfection. It’s not so much about reaching the destination quickly as it is about making sure the car is in good working...
I ask myself, what could I say to myself as the wise, confident woman I know I can be -- speaking to the white-blonde, chubby-cheeked, tie-dye-shirted child I...
I felt this instant rush of adrenaline, and while running outside I felt an incredible sense of freedom. I was hooked.
I find pieces of myself wedged deep inside of the reservoir of my thoughts--like pieces of broken glass I can put back together to make a new work of art. I...
It’s good to remember where my illness brought me as I gave it too much power. I’ve learned countless lessons from it that change everything I do today. I know...
It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking introspection and self-analysis is the path to mental wellness. It took time for me to learn that my search for...