THE (BIPOLAR) WRITER'S LIFE

By Claire G

Having taken Chinese language classes all throughout her high school, Claire's natural next step was to study abroad in China. It was there she had her first mental health incident. The symptoms started as minor, with her speech and energy ramping up. Sleep evaded her, to a point where she spent nights pacing the hallways of her dorm building. Then came the terror-inducing psychotic episodes, which became so severe she had to be sent home.

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CHRONICLES OF A POETIC MADMAN

By Timothy Paul Brown

"The first time I started hearing voices was at the age of 17. I would hear voices coming from miles away. They would talk to me, and they would talk to each other. They would say things like they are going to kill and rape me. I spent a lot of my life in the shelter system. I first experienced homelessness at the age of 18. When I was on the street, I took a hallucinogen called mescaline. That was my introduction into the mental health system when I started seeing things which seemed so real to me. I started seeing the face of what appeared to be a devil on the face of the person that gave me the mescaline pill ..."

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MY JOURNEY

By Howa Ramadan

From the age of 8 to 11 Howa was sexually abused. At 12, she lost her dad of an aneurysm, in front of her. At just 13, she discovered drinking as a way of blocking out the abuse and grief. In and out of trouble with the police, at 18 she was sent to Holloway prison where she was diagnosed with bipolar. In 2012, she was also diagnosed with EUPD (Emotionally unstable personality disorder), and in 2023, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD and drug induced psychosis. However, she is now on the road to recovery - she goes to the gym, writes poetry, and is studying for a degree in forensic psychology.

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THANKS MUM

By Gail Rodgers

It took Gail a long time to learn how not to be like her mother. When her mother criticized and mocked Gail, she'd support and praise her own child. When her mother was unable to see her, she'd eagerly accept, seek to understand, and see her child; and when Gail's mother's hands and words inflected pain and self-loathing, she'd hold, caress and nurture her child. Her mother made Gail the mother she is today, and for that she has to say 'Thanks Mum'.

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SURVIVOR OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

By Donna Zephrine

Having someone you love and are supposed to be able to trust betray you and hurt you both physically and mentally is traumatic. It is something you never forget and something you carry with you always. My sister’s alcoholism took away the sister I once knew, and I have grieved for her ever since.

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THE DAY I REMEMBERED MY SOUL

By Nolo Segundo

When I was 24, back in the early ‘70’s. I killed myself. I put it that bluntly because it was not an attempted suicide, a cry for help, but a decision to self-murder. Yes, it was a desperate act, a last attempt to escape what my mind feared as lifetime imprisonment in a mental asylum.

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ANNA HARRIS'S STORY

By Anna Harria

Anna always believed that having a learning disability was enough to deal with, let alone subsequently being diagnosed with mental health issues. Exams, school work, struggling with psychosis, Anna couldn't cope with daily life, and was admitted to hospital. However, after leaving hospital, she eventually found a place for people who struggle with mental health issues; a place that supports each other with work and education goals - a community of peers who wouldn’t ostracize her or make her feel alone.

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SINDY STERN'S STORY

By Sindy Stern

Sindy is 23 years-old and suffers with her mental health. She has always had an

underlying sense of loneness and sadness, which then developed into more serious

bouts of depression. However, through finding the right medications, right therapy, and right tools, she has started a new journey. A journey of hope.

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SPRUCE CRAFT'S STORY

By Spruce Craft

Spruce was born under a bridge in Indianapolis, USA. His parents were drug addicts and they had no money to fund this child. He was placed up for adoption. His new mother broke him more than once. Angered raged within him, he used a journal to write down his feelings that even he didn’t understand then. At age around 10, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital after a teacher at school found and read his journals.

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LEARNING TO SUFFER, CAN POETRY HEAL?

By Jack Ridl

Jack looks at how writing has helped him heal. By the time he was 35, Jack had been in and out of six psychiatric units, lost a marriage and a young child, had worked with over a dozen therapists, been given a total of thirteen shock treatments, and taken so many drugs that several times he had to go into cold turkey before they “tried another.” Nothing relieved his suffering. And then he started to write ... 

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THE BATTLE IS WON

By Jason Kirk Bartley

Jason has master's degree in Ministry, his poetry has been published various times, and he has won a number of awards. While serving in the National Guard, Jason was stopped by the police for erratic driving. Because of his mental state and behaviour, it was suggested he attend a psychiatric hospital, where he was diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic.

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FOULWEATHER FRIENDS

By Lesley Warren

"I wrote this piece based on my personal experiences of dealing with mental health struggles while living in a foreign country - certainly an ongoing journey full of highs and lows, but with a hopeful outlook for the future."

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