Mandatory Disclaimer
I felt it would be necessary to preface this page with a somewhat obvious disclaimer that the contents you are about to read are purely my personal experiences, a space to share my journey with my own mental health. This is in no way intended to be medical advice. I am by no means a medical professional in any capacity. I’m just a girl who struggled with her own mental health over the years and finally decided to start writing about her experiences in the hope it may make someone else out there feel a little less alone in their own journey.
Please don’t take this to mean that I haven’t done my own research. That’s just not the point of this page. This page is a space for me to reflect on the many experiences I’ve had over the past few years, an opportunity to both practice writing and perhaps learn a little more about myself in the process. If you’d like to come along for the ride, keep on reading and get ready for some rough patches and probably a swear word or two.
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Mental Health History
I would like to start by giving you a little history about myself and my mental health struggles. This part is likely to get messy as I unravel some of my own thoughts and emotions about my mental health and the contributing factors to some of the challenges I’ve faced along the way.
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My First Mental Health Inpatient Stay
My first real story in this series dives into my first and only stay at a mental health inpatient facility. I’d just lost the two of the most important people in the world in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and my first Father’s day without my dad hit me hard.
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IOP
My next story in this series talks about coming home from the mental health facility to participate in an Intensive Outpatient Program, also known as IOP. While this started my own road to healing, it required complete dedication to my own recovery process, putting on my own oxygen mask first instead of putting everyone else first.
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Suicide Attempt #1
This is the part of the story where the focus shifts from dealing with my own mental health to trying to help my daughter with her own mental health struggles. Just laying out the details of the situation may take several paragraphs, but I’m hoping to add some of my own thoughts and experiences dealing with another challenging situation that most people don’t find themselves in every day.
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The Bright Side
While some of this may seem grim, there really is a silver lining to the events of the past few years. My daughter and I are closer than we’ve ever been, and we are both focusing on our mental health in our own ways each day. Perhaps some of these routines or activities will be helpful to you on your own journey.
At the end of the day, mental health is a daily focus in our family. We work a little bit each day on becoming the best versions of ourselves because of those voices inside, not in spite of them. Learning to make friends and be kind with all of myself is a daily lesson I’m learning, and the bright side is I’m still here fighting no matter what my depression tries to tell me.
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MrsWordNerd's Musings 