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Far too young, I used to dream about a place I could go where I wouldn’t have to worry. To know that there was a place you could go if you struggled with “mental problems”.

I’m envious of people who say they don’t experience this mental road blocker. I wish I could turn the anxious switch off, be more laid back and care free.

The stigma of mental illness continues to be an issue in our world. Its impact will often delay a person who struggles with mental health from addressing their concerns the moment they have them.

In September of 2015, I lost my dad suddenly. I often get connected to people who have experienced the sudden loss or loss of a parent at an early age — sometimes it feels like I should wear a name tag and say, 'I lost my dad early on'...

At the age of 15, I developed an eating disorder and have struggled with it for 25 years. This past year I found my strength to finally beat this disease. During the last 25 years, I suffered in silence because the resources were just not out there.

You’ll often hear people say, “I’m so OCD”. You may have jokingly said it yourself. We all like to keep things neat and tidy. Perhaps, “We’re all a little OCD,” right? Wrong. 

Without therapy I truly believe I would not have been able to get better nor would I have been able to accept the anxiety as a part of who I am. My anxiety will never be completely gone and I have come to terms with that, but now I try to redirect it in a positive way.

Now in my 70's, I can look back over my life and see some of the positive things that resulted from having experienced depression.

The dull ache of depression had lodged in my belly for several years like a sponge, soaking away the dopamine and serotonin from the rest of my body, buoyed only by, “it runs in the family,” from a generation that thought therapy, and especially medication, meant institutionalization and perhaps an eventual lobotomy.  

My father and I wrote IT SOUNDED BETTER IN MY HEAD — a fictional account of my mental health journey and my personal growth through music.  In a country, where it seems the majority of our youth are silently struggling with mental health, I think our story will resonate for a wide population as we all suffer together.

When I was 9-months pregnant with my second baby, I tried to find a children’s picture book to read with my nearly five-year-old about a family living with the most common condition after childbirth—postpartum depression—and was shocked to find no book like this in 2020. I set out to create a resource for the 1 in 7 women who will experience postpartum depression along with their families. 

“As traumatized children, we always dreamed that someone would come and save us. We never dreamed that it would, in fact, be ourselves as adults.” – Alice Little