Learn 2 Listen

In my 24 years, I have witnessed firsthand how mental health struggles can debilitate one’s life. For me, most of my story illustrates how mental health and addiction have the ability to completely crush someone, while simultaneously reverberating its devastating effects to those around that person. The story does not have an ending because the battle with mental health struggles is an ongoing journey that some people must navigate day by day. Rather, the story sheds light on the ways in which mental health education plays a pivotal role in the type of love and support one can provide to those suffering. My brother and I are one year apart, so growing up, we were very close. We were given the same opportunities and tools to succeed. We went to the same middle school and both graduated with high honors; we were fortunate enough to attend prestigious high schools and graduate at the top of our classes. Once I left for college, I was beginning to see a change in my brother. In his senior ...

Regret is a funny thing. Ironically, decisions about long-term health are not always easy. In high school, my athletic journey took a striking turn. An athletic trainer once turned to me and said, “What will you regret more? Having played, or not having played?” For me, quitting my sport was never an option. I subsequently learned the difference between manageable pain and potentially dangerous pain. I have spent the last 8 years perpetually reestablishing myself as a soccer player with a body that’s limited by injury. I tore my right knee’s anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) for the first time when I was 15. During the first spring practice of the season, I jumped up to win an airball, and as I landed my knee snapped. The next thing I knew, I was being carried by two of the team’s Soccer Dads’ to the car where my father was waiting to drive me to the Emergency Room. Later, I learned that this meant I would be out of commission the summer before my junior year of high school and for most...

Hello everyone! I am so excited to be able to share my story with all of you! I just read a few incredible stories that some of you were brave enough to share, and my story is nothing like any of yours! However, I still want to write about it, for my sake as well as everyone else's who struggle in silence every day, too ashamed to openly talk about how we feel. I think I started becoming depressed my senior year of high school, but it was a vague feeling, and I did not really think much about it. I made it through freshman year of college without any issues, and after thinking that freshman year was WAY EASIER than I had anticipated, three more years seemed like it would be a piece of cake! I was SO WRONG!!! It was only a few days after I wrapped up classes that I started feeling extremely suicidal. I was on a trip with a few other members of my family and a close friend of ours to visit her daughter in another state when all of these really dark thoughts crept into my brain. I had...

Years ago, I heard about this girl in my area that was left for dead at age seven. I overheard her mother’s boyfriend was touching her in some not-so-nice places. She actually told someone. But the next day her body was found with her head busted open in a ravine. I heard she survived, thank God for that. Another young girl from my area was sexually abused between the ages of 9 to 13 by a neighbor who was supposed to be watching her while her mother went away. She was lost and confused and couldn’t get an explanation as to why she had to endure that type of abuse. But not having any family or an outlet, she had to endure years of pain and torture. She finally left the house of horrors and went to go live with her mom. I know everybody remembered the Michael Jackson song “Beat it” and the belt with the iron spikes; just imagine her getting beaten with that belt every day for nothing. The abuse continued for years. She finally got away and ran into her first love (her son’s father). Afte...

I'd like to express my heart when it comes to vulnerability... A topic that few people address and many run from or do their best to hide behind. Whether it's personal experiences, or childhood traumatic experiences, it's difficult to be vulnerable. One must take that look into a mirror that reflects their life. And it's a stare that reflects back that can be unkind to most. In my past, I've had to overcome abuse, parental divorce, abandonment, low self-esteem, and anger. It took years of heartache and pain to overcome those internal thoughts; "it must be my fault". So my fight, my battle, my struggle has cost me valuable years of my life. It landed me in prison and had me in a place in my life where my heart was full of apathy. I struggled with depression for years and it took a praying mother and therapeutic counseling from someone who believed that my worst wasn't a reflection of my best for me to get better. And I haven't looked back since... M...