When I first started writing my blog, the focus was specific to sharing my lessons learned and journey as I supported my son through his mental health crisis and aftercare. I felt compelled to share and provide insight as to the pitfalls, the challenges, and the maze of process that came along with this experience. […]
Caution: Caregiver Pitfalls
As I started down the long road of my son’s health crisis, I couldn’t believe the number of times I tripped and fell into something that I had no idea I needed to watch out for. I was, as many would be, fully immersed in the experience; focusing on what my son needed to keep […]
Guest Post: The Concept Of Self Value
So thrilled to feature our first guest post here on the blog; the subject is Self Value and finding your worth as you look through the sometimes dark and cloudy lens of depression.
The Other Shoe
One of the lingering affects of going through the health crisis with my son is a periodic feeling that the other shoe is going to drop. If I’m honest about it, and why not be honest after all that is why I’m sharing, it appears to me that this fear of something bad looming just […]
Peer Pressure
***My hope is that this post will help parents and caregivers better understand the role that peer pressure can play in an adolescent’s mental health crisis, especially where cutting is involved*** One of the most startling experiences during my son’s mental health crisis was the realization that within his adolescent peer group, mental illness […]
Speaking Up
The following post was originally published on the Childhood Bipolar Project site on June 28, 2014. As you read, think about this… how often do we ignore that voice inside us that says something is not right, this doesn’t feel right to me or this doesn’t honor my needs? And why do we ignore? Food […]
Unexpected Memories
On a recent morning, I was driving to an early meeting when I hit quite a bit of traffic. Living where I do, we can be anywhere from the suburbs to the city within 20 minutes; during normal “rush hour” it might take 27 minutes. But on this morning, traffic was stopped. I flipped on […]
Shattering the Stigma
Today, Far From Paradise’s latest post is being featured over at OldSchoolNewSchoolMom.com as part of their Stigma Fighters series – You can read it in full here. ****Head on over and show some love! Stigma Fighters is a blog series where real people with mental health issues are sharing their stories in order to combat societal stigma. Human beings […]
Walking Away
“Walking away has nothing to do with weakness, and everything to do with strength. We walk away not because we want others to realize our worth and value but because we finally realize our own” – Robert Tew In my last blog post, which was also a submission to the #iamsubject writing project (if you have not read […]
Healing is NOT a Competitive Sport
First, I want to say thank you so much to all of the readers who have commented on the Blog, Twitter and Facebook since my last post. I’m blown away by the response. I’m grateful and thankful for such a supportive and accepting reception for my big secret. (If you have not read it yet, […]