Encourage Mental Health

Driving home today, I saw a large sticker plastered on the back of a truck that read: LIBERALISM IS A MENTAL DISORDER. To be fair, I'm not sure if the driver was referring to a mental illness or a developmental disability, so I'll address both... since, of course, I want to be politically correct. Both mental illness and developmental disabilities or delays transcend one's political ideology.   When being treated for mental illness, if you can afford it, you meet people of all walks of life. Every socioeconomic status, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and political party is impacted by mental illness. 20% of American adults have a psychiatric disorder, so if you can't think of someone close to you who battles mental illness, then they just aren't telling you. Would you park this truck in a neighborhood that just lost a community member to suicide, or outside a house where a person with anxiety is learning to cope with his mental illness so he can at...

September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day, and for so many people around the world, it's a day where they remember a person close to them or their community who lost his or her life to suicide. Some people will reach out with support to someone who has or had suicidal ideation. Some people will reflect back to a time when they were suicidal. All of these scenarios are covered in Project Semicolon: Your Story Isn't Over, described by people who have been touched by suicide. Started by Amy Bleuel, the Semicolon has become a globally recognized symbol for suicide awareness, representing that someone's story could have ended, but he or she decided to keep going. I was excited for the book to finally be published, as I learned last year that a piece I wrote about my journey with mental illness would be included in the book. I explained how I found hope when I found my psychiatric service dog, Joey. Even though my story wasn't about suicide, I submitted it, hoping th...