Since I have been in college, and even before, I have gotten the questions "why mental health?" more than a DOZEN times, so here I am to answer that for you.
Throughout my school years, I have always L O V E D psychology. Learning how the brain works and all of the different things about it is just so interesting to me. Learning about why people do the things they do, feel the way they feel, just everything about it, I love. In high school, I suffered with depression and an eating disorder. With the depression came anxiety & suicidal thoughts. In dealing with all of that, I really came to realize how important your mental health is, & yes, it is way more important than school & work (just an FYI). With bad quality mental health, follows with a low quality life. & yes, I do know that when living with depression, you may not want to live anyway, but you HAVE to fight through it. There are so many people in this world that need you, love you, & want you around. I think the two quotes that spoke most to me during these years were:
God added another day to your life because someone out there needs YOU!
&
Put your hand over your heart. You feel that, that beating? That is beating on purpose!
I can get to more about my mental illness background in a different post, but anyway.
As time went on, I wanted more & more to show people that they matter & to help end the stigma against those fighting, living, & surviving with mental illness. There are a lot of people in the world that do not understand or even believe that mental illness is a real thing. WHAT? I wanted to help change that! In high school, someone close to me at the time, told me I would be crazy to go to college for mental illness because they "didn't think I would be able to handle it." However, they did say that with good reason because of how "soft-hearted I am." I understood what they were saying & went on to just go to college for general classes & a business degree. The one semester I was in college for business, I hated going to class every single day. It was a drag, it was boring, and it just wasn't for me. To get my life together, I took a semester off to find who I really was and figure what I really wanted. I toyed between SO many different options. My mom called me one morning & told me about the Human Service Technology concentrated in Mental Health at my local community college, Wake Tech. I was ECSTATIC! Looked into it right away, and signed myself up for the following fall semester! In less than a month (from original post date) I will be graduating with my degree in Mental Health and could not be more excited to see where this is going to take me. I have had the full support of my family, my boyfriend, his family, my friends, and my professors. I have taken such intriguing classes that have really taught me a lot about mental health, working with people, working with different populations, different cultures, crisis, etc. To be able to graduate, all students must participate in an internship for a semester at a place of their choice. I have been lucky enough to intern at a crisis intervention & suicide prevention hotline and textline. While I do not answer the phones, I do help do office tasks and see what it takes & what it is like to run a non-profit organization. Running a non-profit is hard work, caps off to everyone that does it!
It has been a journey but that is why I chose #mentalhealth :-)
It's really important to me to make sure I do everything that I can to end the stigma against those with mental illness and #mentalillness and mental health. That's something you can do too! Check back for a later post on how you can help #EndTheStigma as well. Some great resources for mental illness are HopeLine (919-231-4525 or 877-235-4525), NAMI, TWLOHA, are just a few. There are many local/national hotlines for crisis, please look in to those if you are in need. It is not shameful to ask for help; sometimes a little help could go a long way. Don't fight your fight by yourself, you don't have you! You are never alone! So many people may be fighting a similar fight, please reach out to someone if you are in need.
I have updated this post, and since originally writing, I have earned my degree (yay)!
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