I have been a part of the mental health/illness demographic most of my life. What I know now–after decades of struggling with my own mental illness (there, I said it!) – is that IT’S NOT MY FAULT that I have struggled/continue to struggle with it. The real problem is that there are far too many gaps in mental health care. Plus, there’s still too much of a stigma with mental illness. I’ve felt it myself, and I just didn’t want to wait to do whatever I can to make the situation better for me and everyone.
While I currently live in the fourth biggest city in the nation (Houston) – home of one of the largest medical centers in the world (the Texas Medical Center) – I was raised in rural northeast Texas. When I lived there, there was not much mental health care. At present, it is better but not enough.
My mother died unexpectedly in 1985, when I was 16 years old. I am an only child, as was she; we were very close. Since that time, I have also battled infertility. I speak the language of grief fluently. The best thing I can do with my experiences of loss is to use them to work on supporting others with their struggles and to do what I can to fill in the gaps in mental health care.
While I realize I’m only 1 person, I have transformed my thinking about mental health and mental illness. Since I couldn’t have a child, I will treat mental health and mental illness the way I think I would’ve done had I become a parent. I see people around me fight for their children’s health; I will do the same. I want to use the rest of my life to work on ways to make my and others’ mental health better. I remember the isolation I felt as a 16-year-old who no longer had her mother. I am using her as my guide.
I am a registered nurse. Between my life experience and the knowledge I’ve gained through my profession, I have learned some things that have helped me greatly. In addition, I have identified what doesn’t appear to be highly effective. For instance, I’ve seen lots of information thrown around, but I don’t think enough attention is paid to making sure the information “sticks” and effectively helps those in need of support.
The COVID-19 pandemic was becoming problematic just as I had started CR38V3 M1ND5 Inc. (pronounced Creative Minds and later became Creative Mental Wellness after receiving a “Doing Business As” name tweaking). The ideas I initially had—involving exercise and yoga and other activities done with other people present—did not go well with what the whole world was dealing with at that time. So, I started talking with people to understand the challenges with mental health care better. That is when I better understood the gaps in the mental health care system.
Now my focus is both on people who might be struggling with mental health issues as well as working with other organizations. Empowering people to use mental health tools that are fairly easy to access for themselves is 1 of my tactics. Partnering with other organizations that are working on people’s needs that can negatively impact mental health is another opportunity to find new and better ways to fill in gaps. It’s not about getting to the finish line first; it’s about us ALL getting there healthier together!
The big 3 easy-ish mental health tools that have helped me a great deal are GOING OUTDOORS, CONNECTING TO OTHERS, AND VOLUNTEERING. Thus, I’m trying to use those tools as I work on projects to fill in those mental health care gaps.
I want to enable projects that will not reinvent the mental health wheel but instead patch potholes in the road and make the journey less difficult for people like me. There have been several versions of quotes about life not being about the destination but rather the journey. When I was young, I did focus on the destination, but now I just want to make my as well as others’ journeys healthier and less painful!
