FACEing Mental Illness takes shape
Blog and podcast will feature stories from people with lived mental health experience
After weeks of discussions, deliberations and soul searching — trying to zero in on where the needs of the mental health community best intersect with my own interests, talents and passions — I’ve settled on a dedicated focus for this blog and its soon-to-come coordinated podcast.
“Telling our stories is the single most valuable way we can help normalize mental health challenges and reduce discrimination against people with brain disorders,” said Patrick Hendry at Mental Health America, one of the many people with lived experience I spoke to recently.
I couldn’t agree more.
What I loved most about the original FACEing Mental Illness project (my fellowship from the Carter Center for Mental Health Journalism), was talking to its wide-ranging participants, who bravely shared their accounts of challenges and recovery. Their stories were emotional, illuminating, educational and inspirational. Even as the mother of a child with a severe mental illness who understood the bumpy road that kind of diagnosis can foreshadow, I learned so much from them. And telling their tales felt satisfying and important on multiple levels — the same levels that will serve as goals for this platform.
First, these stories help to eliminate misconceptions about brain disorders and the individuals who live with them and reduce the bias and discrimination they are often subjected to. They foster an understanding that we all lie somewhere along the mental health spectrum and an acceptance that there is no “us” and “them,” but only the human condition, in all its manifestations and permutations.
Second, they allow individuals to step forward who have for far too long been hidden in the shadows, intimidated and silenced by whatever fears, shame or judgments they’ve been made to feel. By acknowledging their conditions publicly and sharing the wisdom that has come from their experiences, they become empowered as educators and advocates, celebrating their recoveries and using what they have learned to help others.
Third, as the stories here accumulate — from around the country and, eventually, I hope, around the world — my hope is that they may illustrate not only where our mental health systems are failing, but how we can preventatively and proactively support each other and avert the crises and isolation that are so common today.
FACEing Mental Illness will post a new story each week featuring someone’s lived mental health experience. That person may be of any race, age, religion, gender identity or ethnic background. It might be someone with a chronic psychotic disorder, an eating disorder, a substance abuse disorder, or anxiety and depression. It could also be a parent, spouse or partner sharing lessons learned in trying to support a struggling loved one.
These journeys, which may involve abuse, addiction, imprisonment, or deep trauma, can be painful to hear. Not all of them have happy endings. But they have much to teach us about ourselves, our minds and our humanity.
In the accompanying podcasts, you will hear from the participants themselves, in their own voices and words.
Stories have a way of sticking with you in a way that statistics never will. They foster empathy, create connections and build bridges of understanding and hope. They move us and motivate us to create a better, safer, more equitable world. They can also help identify our failings and spur action to address the deficits and right the wrongs.
It is my hope that the stories you find here will bring us all closer to an awareness that our collective mental well being is a universal responsibility.
If you or someone you know might be interested in sharing a mental health journey on FMI, please reply to this post or reach out to me directly at faceingmentalillness@gmail.com. The process involves a lengthy interview (in person if local, by Zoom if not), a photograph, and a briefer audio taping for the podcast. Thank you for helping to spread the word by sharing this post.
This is so true. Stories are the best and ONLY way for humans to learn from each other by helping the storyteller and the listener to really “hear” each other. Through a story, we meet ourselves!
Excellent plan— telling and listening to stories . Thank you for doing this...