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For questions, encouragement, or advice about sharing your own story, please email me at: allisonquinn92@gmail.com

Facebook: @encouragemh
Instagram: @encourage_mentalhealth
Twitter: @encourage_mh

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Sleep and mental health

There is overwhelming evidence that one’s mental health is directly related to their quantity and quality of sleep. For me, sleep has been a factor in maintaining my mental health, especially my anxiety. Before I developed a mental illness, sleep was not too high of a priority. As a college student, I could stay up until 3:00 working on an assignment then wake up at 7:00 to get to class. Between drinking caffeine and driving with radio on loud, I could go through my day as if I had gotten a full 8 hours of sleep. Although I don’t attribute developing a mental illness to my poor sleep habits, not paying enough attention to my health or listening to my body definitely contributed to the severity of my mental breakdown. If I had taken better care of myself during the semester, I don’t think my symptoms would have begun so abruptly. Throughout my battle with mental illness and my recovery, paying attention to my sleep has been essential. Getting too much or too little sleep during the ni...
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World Suicide Prevention Day 2017 and Project Semicolon

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...
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TMI in Buffalo

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I'm sitting in my hotel room in Buffalo and trying to process all that has happened on my short trip. Several weeks ago, I had been asked by Eva and Sari, the directors of the TMI Project, to join them on a trip to Buffalo to read my piece about my journey with mental illness at their writing workshop. Getting the chance to travel AND discuss mental illness? I responded "yes" just nanoseconds after I got the email. My mom and I took the nearly 7-hour train ride, and I got to see Western New York for the first time. Buffalo has been even more amazing than I thought it would be. This morning, I met up with the two TMI Project directors and the other readers, Ray and Valerie. We were picked up by members of The Service Collaborative of Western New York (Thank you Hannah!) and all headed to the University at Buffalo for the workshop. This specific TMI workshop was for several groups, including AmeriCorps. In all, there were approximately 150 people, mostly young...
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