Mental Health in the State of the Working Poor

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by Jessica Fantini

Though my story isn’t pretty, I am more than willing to share it now. I believe with any story you have to start at the beginning; here is a short version of my background so the rest of the story makes a little more sense. I’m the youngest of two in a single parent household. My parents were never married and separated before I was born. I grew up on welfare, and we had Salvation Army Christmases. We were poor. Every time I asked my mother to buy me something, she told me to be patient and wait because maybe we’d be able to get it next time when it was on sale. Continue reading →

Making the Call

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by Adriane Reilly

Hi, my name is Adriane and I just completed my first therapy session last week. My journey to the big comfy couch with my therapist probably started the day I was born, but I’ve been calling out for help without knowing it since about October. As I settle into year two after grad school, I’m coming to terms with life as a young adult and newlywed and not doing so well. I’ve been battling stress, TMJ, tension headaches, control issues, generalized anxiety disorder, unhealthy comparison, self-doubt, and perfectionism. Continue reading →

Every Time You Smile

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by Ryan Bye

Smile. Just smile. You repeat this over and over in your head until you cant remember which muscles you need to activate in order to actually smile. There’s a saying about how it takes more muscles to frown, right? So, why not smile? Well, for starters it can be hard for a number of reasons: frustration at work, disturbance in the personal realm, or it just might be a very busy day. Continue reading →

Surviving and Thriving as a Caregiver

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by Mallory Bower

In the beginning, things were just a little off.  If you weren’t close, you wouldn’t have noticed. My intuition was in overdrive and my gut was screaming, “this isn’t right!” But still, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

First, there were the tall tales that I so badly wanted to believe. Elaborate stories, spun carefully with conviction and woven with lies.

Then there were bouts of hyper, all-in mania that made my head spin trying to follow along and make sense of it all. Hundreds of projects started, but never finished. Nuts and bolts; screws loose.

Next came the mood swings, broken glass, unbridled anger. Followed by self-loathing and isolation.

And then, quiet. The calm before the storm that would brew again without warning.

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mindFULL

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by Lisa Endersby

I don’t measure my weight on a scale much anymore. I measure my heaviness by my mood. For as long as I can remember, anxiety has been an old friend, a constant companion, and my nemesis. It’s fascinating and frightening to watch other people be seemingly ‘normal’ as they go about their lives, so quick to recover from what you know isn’t anywhere near the end of the world, and so steady in their good moods.

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The Other Side

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by Sean Grube

As many of you may know, my lovely partner, Kristen Abell, is a persistent advocate for mental health in the student affairs field. She’s extensively documented her own battles with depression. I’ve been asked to talk about what it’s like to be a partner (hopefully a supportive one) to someone that lives with depression.

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Misdiagnosed

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by Stacy Oliver

Blinking slowly, I regained consciousness on the floor of the bathroom in my Residence Director apartment. I remembered walking in there minutes before and leaning against the counter, hoping to ease the pain that was gripping my ribs like a belt cinching tighter and tighter as my breath became shallower.

It didn’t make sense. These were the symptoms my doctor diagnosed as gallbladder attacks, culminating in my having my gallbladder removed. Was there such a thing as phantom gallbladder attacks? It seemed unlikely, but there also wasn’t any other plausible explanation as far as I was concerned. Continue reading →

Stomping Out Stigma

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by Kristen Abell

I started writing about my struggles with depression on my personal blog in 2007, but it was several more years before I outed myself to the student affairs community. I can still remember the churning in my stomach and the cold sweat I broke into after hitting “publish” on my post. I can remember the overwhelmingly positive response I got from those who commented, shared, or emailed me privately to thank me for the post. I also remember the silence from people I had hoped and thought would respond – in a way, that spoke louder than the comments from those that supported me.

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