Good Afternoon, World!!! It has been a few months since I last posted. Actually, tomorrow marks three months since I last posted. I don’t have any excuses at all. Yes, I have been busy with life in general and my new job however I could have made time to post.

My new job is going quite well. It is hard to believe that I have been at my current job for three months now. I am really enjoying it. In fact, we recently hired a new nurse, and I was able to be part of the interview process. Every person on the team is a part of the interview process and I think that is an awesome idea especially since we are a small team of six people including myself (and the new nurse). I enjoy working with my colleagues and working with the young people I help. One of the best parts of my job is how close the team is as well as how much autonomy I have in my position. One of my favorite things about my current position as a Peer Support Specialist is that my supervisor and his boss as well as the organization I work for encourages me to attend trainings especially ones that are pertinent to my job. For example, I work with young folks from 15 years old to 40 years old who are experiencing their first episode of psychosis and my supervisor, and his boss are “thrilled” that I took the initiative to sign up to attend the Hearing Voices Facilitator training. Sadly, when I worked at another organization on a team that focuses on people who have a psychotic disorder it wasn’t encouraged for me to do this particular training even though it would have been beneficial for the people I helped with there as well as the people I currently help. I’m just happy I can do this training as it will allow me to help the people, I serve better and learn new skills to lean on for their recovery journey. I am thrilled that I can be part of someone’s recovery journey especially since most of the people I help are just starting their recovery journey.

Speaking of recovery journeys, mine is going quite well. Granted I am not where I would like to be like I was, in early 2022. Thankfully, I am doing better than I was in late summer of 2023 after being traumatized again. Sadly, my therapist has been out on FMLA and haven’t been able to have therapy, but I am grateful that my therapist is practicing what she preaches by taking time to take care of herself. My recovery is going relatively well. I’ve been taking my meds regularly, doing mindfulness meditation practices two to three times daily, going for two walks a day, making my bed, having a good sleep hygiene schedule and of course relying on my friends as well as my cat to help my recovery. I am just happy that my recovery is currently in a stable place and that I have my cat and some great friends a part of my life as I walk through my mental health recovery.

On that note, I am still struggling with grief over the death of both of my parents. It has been seven months since my mom died and five months since my dad died. I miss both of them dearly. I just wish I can hug both of them one last time as well as hear them say “I love you” one more time. I am grateful that my cat, Billie is there to help me with the grief just like my friends are helping me through the grief after losing both of my parents within two months of each other. I have an amazing cat as well as some pretty amazing friends who help me through some of the toughest moments of grief.

I do not have anything else to discuss or share or to write about in this particular blog post except that I hope to blog on the more regular basis, so I don’t leave you the reader hanging. I do want to thank you the reader for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated from my end of things that you the reader, read my blog. If it was not for you the reader, reading my blog I would not be continuing to write my blog. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog. Peace Out, World!!!