No turning back! Personal development & acknowledgement are like crack! (Part 5 of How I stopped being "Mentally Ill" and quit taking pills)
I started to value myself after I started taking actions toward reaching my goals.
The “Mental Illness” was no longer serving me once I dropped the trauma. MORE importantly, a little bit of self development was like crack! I GOT WHAT I ALWAYS WANTED!
I got praise, acknowledgement, encouragement--
Articles that I had written for the local newspaper were hanging in offices & institutions that had tried to put me into a state mental ward for the rest of my life. Staff that had once seen me as a hopeless case, doomed to “be on medication for the rest of my life” were now seeing me as a Grad student with skills & accomplishments.
Instead of “a patient” and feeling “less than”, I now felt I was an equal.
Not only that, but the people I was once “Peers” with-- those in the system of the “Mental Health Community”--now looked up to me and I was able to serve them!
I got a job as a peer advocate and worked directly with the board of mental health professionals to educate and encourage mental health clients to be proactive in their care, answer their questions and tell them where to go to get better care from professionals and take their reports and complaints back to the director to make things better for them in our city.
1 comment
Very proud of you and fall your accomplishments you god girl❤😘