This blog is about caring for ourselves and each other. I have thought about blogging for the past year. In that time I have written over a dozen mental health articles as contributions to a textbook website. I want to reach beyond academia to share my thoughts, perspectives, and inspirations with others.
As a psychiatric nurse, I have cared for a lot of people going through crisis situations. I have heard all kinds of accounts of trauma, life-long mental illness, new onset mental illness, or reaching a crossroads and simply being overwhelmed with life in general. As a nurse educator, I teach mental health content to first-semester nursing students. I share my experiences with my students in order for them to be able to relate what they are learning in class to the world around them. My aim is to break down the stigma of mental illness, one person at a time. I always tell my students that I have chocolates and tissues in my office…if they need a quiet place to unwind…thus the name of this blog site.
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My blogging will be thoughtful, happy, sad, informative, questioning, and generally spoken from the point of view of a person who is a professional, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a friend, and a caring individual. My hope is that I will gain a circle of regular readers who gain insight from what I have to say. I hope to inspire others to live their best lives and when the days seem gloomy (as they sometimes do) will find solace in the knowledge that there is a place they can visit to know they are not alone.
3 responses to “Let the Blogging Begin”
This website is a great idea! People just dont talk about theur mental health struggles. I found out this week that a friend in my meditation group is really challenged by depression and anxiety. I have known him for 5 yrs! Nary a peep! If we dont share our stories we cant support each other. I am often the first to share , “I have depression and anxiety” and often hear back, “Oh yeah, I have that too!” Mental health stuff is way more common than I ever knew growing up.
Sarah,
Thank you for sharing! I agree that there are MANY more people out there with mental health struggles that we can see with our naked eyes. I will be writing a future post about the masks that people wear to hide what they think of as a weakness. It actually takes a lot more strength to try to hide how they are really feeling than if they let their true emotions show and asked for help.
Please keep visiting my site for more encouragement in a safe space:)
This blogsite is a great idea! In the past few years I’ve met more and more folks like me with mental health issues. They seem quite common but we still have stigma about them. The more open we are to each other the more supportive we can be. Lets share what we’ve learned and what works.