Tag Archives: Mental Health

Daily Prompt: Blogger With a Cause

Posted on by Gertie

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Blogger With a Cause.” If your day to day responsibilities were taken care of and you could throw yourself completely behind a cause, what would it be?

This daily prompt is an easy one for me and if you regularly read my blog the causes I am would be completely behind would be a no brainer. The causes I would be behind are causes I am currently behind. They are mental health issues, recovery and ending homelessness.

As many of you know I have a passion when it comes to mental health and recovery. Everyone has the right to get the treatment they deserve if they choose to seek out help. The first thing about recovery is that you have to choose to want to be in recovery. Sadly, not everyone decides that recovery is for them and that is their choice. Not only is recovery a choice, it looks differently to each individual.

Another one of my passions is ending homelessness. Everyone deserves to have a home if they choose to accept housing. Again accepting housing is a choice just like choosing recovery. Becoming homeless is as uniquely and circumstantial as the person. As you may know some people who become homeless is because the came on hard times and lost a job. Then their are those individuals who are homeless and have a serious mental illness. Many individual’s who are struggle with both mental illness and homelessness have difficulty keeping housing due to their mental illness. In return if you are struggling with a mental illness while homeless it’s difficult to get to your appointment because you are too busy trying to get shelter for the night.

As you can tell housing can be a major part someone’s recovery. That is why I work at mental health agency that houses those who are the most vulnerable in regards to mental illness. They help house those who have a serious mental illness in hopes that once they get help then they will seek help for their mental illness. Only about have who get housed through the agency agree to seek mental health treatment and we are fine with that. It is their choice to seek treatment. Getting housing is a major deal and if we can get them treatment then that is a major plus.

As you can tell, I am already a blogger with a cause and I don’t need to quit my day job to do so. I love my job and I love blogging. I love the causes that I am involved in. I will call it a day in regards to blogging. Have a good weekend all. Peace out!!

Day Five: Love Your Theme

Posted on by Gertie

Good Morning all!!! It is day five of blogging 101. Today’s assignment was to choose a theme you love. As you can see, I changed my theme. I changed it last night when we received our assignment for today. As much as I enjoyed my last theme (The Flounder), I feel like the new theme (Rusty Grunge) is more of a representation of who I am as a person as well as a blogger who coming into their own.

Coming into my own person has not been an easy feat for me. There has been struggle after struggle with various situations that has helped me become the person I have become. If it weren’t for learning how to deal with various struggles in my life especially when it comes having a mental health diagnoses, I wouldn’t be able to have the success I have in my life. That is where blogging comes into play.

Being able to blog about my journey as a person who is recovery with their mental illness has been an experience that I do not regret doing. It has brought me to realize that being about share my recovery story to the world has been quite therapeutic for me. Most importantly having my new theme represents how I have grown as a person over the years as well as a blogger over the last year.

Thank you everyone for reading my blog. It is greatly appreciated to have people like you all reading my journey of recovery. Happy Friday and Peace Out!!

Day Four: Identify Your Audience

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Todays assignment is to identify my audience as well as try something new that I haven’t tried yet. I do have to say I would love to add a picture every once in awhile however I am unsure on how to do it. Yes, I’ve looked at WordPress’s “instructions” but they don’t make sense to me for a number of reasons. One of which involves a learning disability. It’s not WordPress’s fault that I have a learning disability. I just wish they would put it into simpler terms to where people who do not understand computers or who may have learning disabilities may be able to comprehend what they are explaining. I do know of people who may be able explain on how to put a picture to my blog at a later time.

Enough of my complaining and back to my assignment of targeting my audience. I think I already have a targeted audience. Well, at least some of my targeted audience. If you have been following and/or reading my blog you know that the focus of my blog is mental health recovery and what it looks like to me as I walk through my recovery. You also know that I want to have more of an educational piece to my blog. Taking blogging 101 is having me think more of the educational piece of my blog and its only the fourth day into the three week course. Now that I have somewhat of an established blogging audience, I need to continue on building that aspect of my blog as well as trying to start building the other half of my audience. That other half are those who do not have a mental illness and wanting to educate them in hopes to lessen the stigma that goes along with having one. It’s always been my goal to give hope to those who have a mental illness that recovery is possible as well as have an educational aspect to those who don’t have a mental illness to lessen the stigma. I hope what I said made sense and didn’t sound repetitive.

I am thrilled that I am taking this course because it is has me refocusing on what I want my blog to be. Granted I wish I was aware of it when I first started blogging but am happy that I am taking it at this point in time of my blogging experience. I have just of year under my belt with blogging and have some experience that is helping with the course. Something is to be said by trial and error learning and am grateful for that. I’m grateful that I am taking this course now.

With all that being said I need to get going for the moment and will blog again tomorrow. Have a wonderful day. Peace out!!!

Day Three: Say Hello to the Neighbors

Posted on by Gertie

It is day three of Blogging 101 and today’s assignment was saying hello to our neighbors. We had to choose five “topics” to follow as well as five blogs to follow. No problem, I have been meaning to add more topic to my tags as well as wanting to follow new blogs.

The new topics I have decided to follow and the reasons are as follows: Feminism: I have always been interested in feminism and consider myself as feminist. Politics: I love politics and how it has shaped our world as a whole. Child Abuse: I thought I was already following it but when I was looking in my tags, I realized I was not so now I am. LGBTQ: Despite being engaged to a wonderful man, I have always considered myself a part of the LGBTQ community because of being pansexual. Comics: I love comics. In fact I am a big collector of comic books. In fact I have most of the Wonder Woman comic books.

The following are the blogs I have started following as of today: http://HeathersHelpers.org/, http://SocialWorkSynergy.org/, http://SurvivorGrrl.com/, http://MomentOrTwo.com/ and last but not least http://TearingOffTheMask.wordpress.com/. I encourage you all to take a look at the above blogs that I just decided to follow.

Now that I am finished with todays assignment, I need to head out and take care of my mental health. I see my psychiatric nurse practioner and my therapist today.  I have a great deal to talk to my therapist about in regards to my stupid PTSD symptoms. Well, I need to go. Have an awesome day. Peace Out!!

Day Two: Take Control of Your Title and Tagline

Posted on by Gertie

Today’s assignment doesn’t necessarily have us write a blog. In fact it has us “Take Control” of our Title and Tagline. Since I have already done that, I wanted to blog about why I chose my title and the tagline.

I came up with Gertie’s Journey because I am Gertie and it is my journey. Gertie is not my given name and no it is not short for Gertrude. It is a nickname I received in the third grade. I originally used my nickname in the title because of the stigma that goes with having a mental illness however since I now have a job as a Consumer Advocate, and work with those who struggle with mental illness’s, I use it to protect myself. Not only that Gertie’s Journey sounds much better than if you would use my given name with the word journey.

As for my tagline, it pretty much explains itself. My tagline is: A Journey of Mental Health Recovery. The reason why I chose the tagline I did was because I am sharing my journey of being in recovery with a mental illness. Of course it is my hope that I will add more of an educational twist to my blog. It has always been the hope and the case to include an educational twist. It just hasn’t been as much as a priority as it should be and will be in the future. When the educational twist of my blog comes more into play then I will change my taglines just a wee bit.

Now that I have completed today’s assignment, I need to sign of and head to work. Have a wonderful day everyone. Peace Out!!!

Day One: Introduce Yourself to the World

Posted on by Gertie

As many of you are well aware of, I am Gertie and have been blogging for just over a year. If you regularly read my blog you are also aware that I am trying to improve my blogging skills and taking a blogging 101 course that WordPress offers through Blogging U. Today marks day one of the three week course I am take. Today’s topic is to introduce myself to the world. Yes, I am aware that some of this may be repetitive if you are a regular reader and ask you to bare with me.

I am Gertie and like I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I have been blogging for just of a year now. I started blogging for two reasons. The first reason I started blogging was and is to educate those who do not struggle with a mental illness in hopes to lessen the stigma that unfortunately goes with having a mental health diagnosis. The second reason why I started blogging was and is to be an example to those who struggle with a mental illness that recovery is possible and most importantly there is hope. Yes, that means I struggle with a mental illness. If you would like to get to know me better here is the link to the original post introducing myself:  https://gertiesjourney.com/2014/05/31/intorduction-to-gerties-journey/. I hope that this was helpful to you the reader especially if you are a new reader and/or follower.

Well, that is it for the moment despite it being short and sweet. Well maybe not exactly sweet but definitely shorter than most of my other post. Before I head off to work I want to wish you all a good Monday. Peace Out!!!

Improving My Skills In Blogging

Posted on by Gertie

As you can tell a number of my post have been Daily Prompts in recent days. I have quite a few reasons why I have done the daily prompts. One of which is, I was having difficulties coming up with ideas to blog about and they are extremely helpful in that way. Another reason why is I’ve been using Daily Prompts is because I noticed I wasn’t blogging as much as I use to, when I started blogging and realized that I had more people reading my blog when I was posting more often.

Another thing I plan on doing starting tomorrow is the Blogging U. 101 class that WordPress puts on for free. Yes, I am aware that the Blogging 101 courses might be a bit trivial and a repetitive blogs due to the assignments they give and for the fact that I have been blogging for just over a year now. I figured it wont hurt if I relearned stuff that I already learned by trial and error. Who knows I might even learn some new stuff. I am hoping that taking the Blogging U. 101 course will help improve my blogging skills. Granted, I realize some of the assignments they give me might have me blog about things or topics that I have already blogged about. It is my hope that you my reader don’t get annoyed with me and remain patient with me and my blogging process.

It is my hope through this process that it will improve my skills to be a better advocate for those with mental illness as well as to better educate those who do not have a mental illness. It is my biggest hope with this blog to help eliminate the stigma those is associated with having a mental illness. Discrimination against those with mental illness is why many people who struggle with one don’t seek out help. It is for them I share my story of recovery and hope that my story can eliminate the stigma that goes along with it.

Now that you are aware of what I am going to be doing, I ask for your patients and understanding. The course will last three weeks and I hope to learn a great deal with it. Peace out and have an awesome day.

Daily Prompt: State of Your Year

Posted on by Gertie

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “State of Your Year.” How is this year shaping up so far? Write a post about your biggest challenges and achievements thus far.

It’s the third day of July and that means the year is half over. The year now being officially half over is why I decided to do this particular past daily prompt.

The year didn’t start off on the happiest of notes. If you are a regular reader and/or follower you are aware that I had miscarried a set of twins in January. It was a devastating start to the new year. I was looking forward to being a mama. Needless to say the miscarriage has had me wanting this year to end two weeks into it.

As January turned into February, I realized that I not only wanted the year to be over, I wanted to end my life. I wanted to end my life due to miscarrying. That is when I realized I needed to get help by putting myself into the hospital twice. The first time for two weeks and then a week after I was discharged had to go back in for another five days. I was disappointed in myself that I needed to be hospitalized for psych reasons because it had been nearly three and half years since my last discharge from my last psych hospitalization. The miscarriage hit me harder than a bag of bricks hitting the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Despite being hit by a bag of bricks, I realized that this particular crisis was different from the rest; I didn’t harm myself in any way. Yes, that means I didn’t attempt suicide nor self-harm. If one thing could come from the sadness of loosing a set of twins and the crisis that came after it, is that I don’t need to self harm nor do I need to go through it alone.

The major thing I have learned this year is that I am not alone and most importantly I know who is truly in my corner. Don’t get me wrong, I have known who has been in my corner for quite some time, I just fully realized on who is in my corner. I also realized that, those of who I thought were in my corner when it came to me being in a crisis weren’t able to do so, like I once thought. Now I know that it doesn’t matter how long you have known someone or how you met that person, it matters that they step up to the plate when a crisis arises.  Sometimes it’s a person you don’t necessarily expect.  An example of someone like that is my friend Susan over at https://bravelybipolar.wordpress.com/.

As the year continues on and the help of many people like Susan, my fiancé, Junior and many others, it is slowly but surely better. Yes, I still have my difficult moments but realize that the initial crisis of the miscarriage is over. It has taken quite some time for it to be over however I have accomplished the fact that I not only not harmed myself in the crisis, I was able to allow others in my life to help me in one of the most darkest hours of my life.

Looking back on my year thus far, I would say that one of my major accomplishments is continuing to live my life as I would have before miscarrying. That means, I continued on going to work, going to my volunteer job at the Warm Line and most importantly spending time with friends and select family members. I also allow myself to grieve over the loss of my children. Amongst the major accomplishment of living my everyday life in the middle of a crisis, I decided to volunteer other places.

Yes, I’m now volunteering not only at the Warm Line and the Mental Health Clubhouse I am a member of but a young adult shelter. I’m doing this because, I not only miss volunteer at the main shelter of the mental health I agency I am now employed at but I want to eventually work with young adults struggling with a mental illness. The reason being is because, I’ve been there. I was a young adult seeking treatment and felt like nobody understood because everyone else to start getting treatment till their late twenties and early thirties if not older. Volunteering at the young adult (18-25) shelter is a way to make sure I want to work with particular age group in the profession sense. What’s the worse thing that can happen? I realize its not the age group I am meant to work with and another thing to put on my résumé. So far I’m loving the fact that I am not only volunteering in a homeless shelter but volunteering with the age group that I am wanting to work with professionally.

As the year continues on, I am looking forward to what it brings professionally. I love my job as a Consumer Advocate however I want to be a Peer Support Specialist. I have been looking at Peer Specialist positions within the agency I work for as well as other agencies however I realize I am more likely to get hired on, if it is at another agency, if I have been at my current employer for at least a year. My one year anniversary at my current employer is September 8, 2015. Since my anniversary is in September, I have decided to wait to late November, early December to apply for Peer Specialist positions due to the fact that I will have been employed for an entire calendar year (January to December) by the time I find out if I get hired for a job. The longer you are at an employer the better it looks to future employers. Not only that, I also need to do a few things done to ensure I will able to get a job as a Peer. They are to get my teeth fixed as well as to get a drivers license. Yes, you read right, I don’t have a drivers license. I have always lived in area’s that have pretty good public transit. Another reason why I want to get a drivers license is because many positions require one. Not only will having a drivers license be helpful to me professionally, so will getting my teeth fixed. People do tend to look at ones smile when it comes to an interview as well as in everyday encounters and that is why I want to get them fixed. Plus it will make me feel better about myself.

Overall, I am feeling better about myself as 2015 continues. Yes, it has not been the best of years so far however, I am going to make sure it ends on a higher note than it did when it started or at least try. We all know that there are things beyond our control. The year may have started badly but I know as it continues, I am making sure there are positives in it. One way I am making it positive besides professionally is by hanging out with awesome people. That is what I am about to do after I end this particular post. I do apologize for it being so long. I hope to blog again tomorrow for the 4th of July. If I am unable to do so, have a Happy 4th of July. Be safe and Peace Out!!!

Daily Prompt: Thank You

Posted on by Gertie

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Thank You.” The internet is full of rants. Help tip the balance: today, simply be thankful for something (or someone).

As I was searching through the past daily prompts today, I came a crossed this daily prompt. I thought it would be a good one to do just because I have a lot to be thankful for.

First things first I am thankful for my dad. There are so many reasons I am thankful for my dad. Granted he may not have won the father of the year but I’m okay with that. My dad had to take on the role of mom when my own mother abandoned the both of us in the middle of the night. He not only raised me (with the help of my grandparents) in the 80’s and 90’s but showed me what it meant to persevere despite his developmental delays, Traumatic Brain Injury (TPI), mental illness and alcoholism. Most importantly, my dad showed me what recovery looked like. He showed that recovery isn’t an easy process but is well worth it. He also taught me that the road to recovery is uniquely individualized to each person.

Secondly, I am thankful for my grandparents for helping my dad raise me. I was not the easiest of children to raise especially when I was a teenager dealing with an eating disorder, mental illness and self-harm issues. My grandparents weren’t perfect but at least I know they tried to the best of their abilities and most importantly they love me with all their heart.

Another person I am thankful for is my fiancé, Junior. I am thankful for Junior for many different reasons. I am extremely thankful that he not only chose to ask me out and date me but asked me to marry him. The reason being is because he knew what he was getting into when we started dating. He knew how difficult it could and can be with my mental illness and that didn’t scare him. I thankful for Junior’s love for me and his encouragement with my recovery.

I have yet another person I am thankful for. This person has played a significant role in my recovery and am forever grateful to her for it. The person is my own therapist, Diana. (Side Note: Diana is a pseudonym to protect her, her family as well as her past, current and future clients.) Diana has been an incredibly formable person for me in my recovery. She has been in my corner, encouraging me, challenged me (when needed), listening to me and most importantly believing me when I tell her stuff that happened to me as a child. Diana has helped me grow as a person since she is a person who believes that recovery is possible despite how differently it looks to each person.

Last but not least I am thankful for my recovery with my mental illness as well as my eating disorders. I am thankful for my recovery because I am able to enjoy my life despite what difficulties I encounter. If I wasn’t in recovery I wouldn’t haven’t been able to get my certification as a Peer Support Specialist much less have my current job as a Consumer Advocate. I also wouldn’t be able to volunteer at the Warm Line or the young adult homeless shelter I just started volunteering at. Being in recovery means that I am now living a life worth living.

A life worth living also means finding out what you enjoy. That what I am going to do now. I am going to go and enjoy this beautiful summer day. I am going to go and eat at my favorite restaurant on the water front. Yes, that means I am ending this blog post for now. Peace out and enjoy your day.

Daily Prompt: Teacher’s Pet

Posted on by Gertie

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Teacher’s Pet.” Tell us about a teacher who had a real impact on your life, either for the better or the worse. How is your life different today because of him or her?

Here I am again, doing another daily prompt. In fact yesterday was the first time I ever used WordPress’s daily prompt and I like having the option of a specific “topic” ready for me to choose from. In fact I’m loving having the option to not only have a daily prompt but having the option to do todays daily prompt or a past daily prompt. Just like the daily prompt I use yesterday, today, I chose a past daily prompt.

It is an extremely difficult choice for me to pick just one teacher who has had an impact on my life because, there isn’t a teacher that I haven’t had who hasn’t made and impact on my life at one time or another. Since all my teachers have had an impact on my life, I have decided to only discuss three teachers in this particular post. Two of the three teachers happen to be two of my most favorite teachers. I have decided to use their real names due to the fact I want to give them all credit for what they have done. I know maybe that may not be a wise choice on my part but they do deserve credit even if what one teacher angers you (like it does me) they all are worthy of credit.

Before I begin telling you about the three teachers who have had the most impact on my life let me tell you a thing or two first. All through my school years I was a main streamed special education student. That means I was in “normal” classes with other kids in my grade with the exception of one subject and sometimes two subjects. The reason being is because at an early age I was diagnosed with not only ADHD but dyslexia and other reading and writing disabilities. The only subject I was not main streamed in was English and on occasion other subjects when needed.

Now that we are on the topic of both Special Education and English, lets talk about my seventh grade Special Ed English teacher, Ms. Phelps. Ms. Phelps wasn’t the best of teachers nor was she one of my favorite teachers. She was not always the most sensitive of people and unfortunately wasn’t afraid to speak her mind especially when it came to hurting a students feelings. Don’t get me wrong, I actually prefer people to speak their minds but when it could harm someone especially a child then its not always exactly the best thing to do. Ms. Phelps was getting fed up with me because she didn’t think I was putting much effort into my homework.  In all actuality, I was spending two hours a day just doing homework for her class alone. I had six other classes that I needed to do homework for (including marching/concert band). I spent three hours doing homework from my other classes and that includes me practicing my flute for an hour for band. I spent more time doing homework for class than my other classes. Since Ms. Phelps didn’t think I was putting much effort into my homework for her class she kept giving me detention which was nothing new for me since I was always in trouble. It was one of those detentions where she spoke her mind and spouted out her anger on me. She told me “You will never graduate high school much less make it through you freshman year of high school. You most likely will drop out your freshman year. You will be a high school drop-out just like your parents.” It was because of what she said is what made me determined to graduate high school and prove her wrong. If it wasn’t for those words echoing through my head, I think I wouldn’t have cared so much about graduating high school as I did. Yes, I did graduate high school and it made me feel good that I not only proved her wrong but I proved myself wrong as well. I still haven’t been able to show her my high school diploma and I’m okay with it because it doesn’t matter so much to me any more.

The next teacher, I’m about to tell you about was one that inspired me to be the best at what I was able to do despite my disabilities and had him throughout my junior high years. For me the junior high I attended was only seventh and eighth grades. Mr. Hahn was my band teacher. He had a sense a humor that related to every kid he taught. Mr. Hahn taught me how to persevere through difficult sections in a specific piece of  music which could be a potential metaphor for life. Mr. Hahn put a great deal of effort into me and helped me improve playing the flute. He taught me various things in regards to the flute as well as being able to use them in life now and not just in regards to playing the flute. Mr. Hahn’s constant encouragement, sense of humor and love for music is why I continued playing the flute through high school even though I wasn’t exactly the best flute player in the world.

This next teacher I am about to tell you about is one who encouraged me to get help for both my eating disorders as well as the depression I was in. Ms. Casey taught me Earth Science my sophomore year of high school and Biology my junior high of high school. She was also the class advisor for my graduating class. She taught me how to love science and that it was more than okay to be a woman who loves science. Not only did she help me get the help I needed for the eating disorders and mental illness, she helped me with my homework for her class(es) as well as other classes. Ms. Casey put the effort into me to make sure that I graduated high school. Ms. Casey was one of those teachers (just like Mr. Hahn) who put in extra hours to make sure all her students succeeded in school and beyond.

If it wasn’t for the above three teachers, I wouldn’t have graduated high school nor been the success I am today. They all taught me the power of determination in their own way and that once you put your mind to something, stay strong and most importantly keep the determination.

I wish I could write more on this particular post especially about Mr. Hahn and Ms. Casey, I am unable to do so because I have to go to work. I love my job and if it wasn’t for all my teachers throughout my life I would have it. Thank you to all the teacher who have taught me. Well, off to work I go. Peace out!!