Recent tragedies across the nation continue to bring the topic of mental health into focus like never before. As a passionate mental health advocate, could you share your perspective on addressing the social stigma and negative perceptions and how to better educate ourselves as a nation on the topic of mental health?
Well, one thing I’ve noticed is people lean towards not wanting or having the time to read very much, nor do they like to take time out of their schedule to do significant outreach on something they’re not personally connected to. Otherwise, I’d say volunteer at mental health facilities, foundations, or attend support groups so you can see what mental illness looks like when someone is healthy versus not healthy; so one can see what not being medicated and what being medicated looks like and how this affects your livelihood, outlook on life, personal relationships and just about anything else you can think of. From there, I believe a significant level of awareness and compassion could be achieved very quickly. But since most of us may be limited in this capacity, I put the responsibility on advocates like myself with lived experience to share their stories so other affected individuals will open up and thus create a snowball effect. Realizing how many of the people around you are affected by mental illness that appear to be “normal” helps to humanize and bring perspective to what “mental illness” actually looks like. The best way for anyone to understand mental illness is to hear it from the horse’s mouth and from there you’ll be surprised, it moves people to want to learn more on their own and educate themselves.
"To not have your mental health means you do not have the ability to enjoy life, and enjoying life is the biggest success anyone can have."
Could you take us back to the moment when you decided to publicly share your story of living with Bipolar type I, what was the catalyst behind this courageous decision?
It was in November of 2010 that I came up with the idea of sharing my story. It pretty much happened with my decision to release my book of poems called, Black Daisy in a White Limousine. Poetry was always the way that I expressed my emotions throughout the years of trying to cope with my bipolar symptoms. As a poet I met once said, and it resonated so much with me, poetry was the only place I like myself in my brain. My mother in January of 2011 took on a project called “Pick-up the Phone” and it was for suicide prevention and mental illness. It was during her involvement where I decided to open up about my challenges and share the catalyst behind my poetry.
In American culture, many view mental illness as a taboo subject, what has your personal experience and broad advocacy work taught you about how mental illness could be more effectively addressed across communities?
In many cultural groups such as with African Americans, being a minority carries its own set of challenges as American history has shown. When you’re already dealing with the challenges of daily life, making a living, or inner city poverty, mental illness may not be as legitimized and thus not talked about in a way that breeds compassion because everyone has their own set of “real” problems. As a result, the unawareness cycle continues. Many don’t seek help because many don’t realize there’s something significant to seek help for. I know in my case before I was hospitalized, I had no idea there was a name for the symptoms I had been experiencing for 5 years prior because mental illness was not talked about. But I feel advocating, going to colleges and doing inner city outreach gets people to open up and think about symptoms they may be having that are affecting key areas in their life. The government is doing several online campaigns to increase the mental health dialogue.
"I focus a lot on transparency because many of the symptoms from mental illness come from holding things deep within and being fearful of exposing ourselves to others...But if we can get just a few in the room to be authentic, and it always begins with me, people start to open up in a domino effect fashion. It’s amazing! ."
Through my recent speaking engagements and workshops in high schools along with mental health rehab facilities and forensics facilities, I interact with individuals in a way that engages their emotions. I focus a lot on transparency because many of the symptoms from mental illness comes from holding things deep within and being fearful of exposing ourselves to others. It’s easier to get the youth to open up before the adults. But if we can get just a few in the room to be authentic, and it always begins with me, people start to open up in a domino effect fashion. It’s amazing! What holds us back is fear of what people will think or fear of acknowledging our own weaknesses. All I can say is that it works. I’ve had hospital staff tell me they’ve had mute patients open up in their private therapy sessions after a poetry workshop through journaling. Not to be a sap, but I cried. That..is the power of written expression.
Talk to us about your book, Black Daisy in a White Limousine, 77 Poems: The Art of Life, Love and Family and how poetry has served as a cathartic instrument for healing in your life?
Like I mentioned earlier, when I write poetry I use a part of me that feels free to express myself without any limitations and it’s simply blissful. I was literally born to do this and feel a sense of peace and calm as if time is standing still. I’ll begin a poem at 3pm, work on it throughout the day, look up, and it’s already 7pm or 8pm. It’s the same poem! Then I’ll leave it alone for a couple days or even a week, come back to it from another perspective and spend another few hours on it. They say it’s not abnormal for most poets to do 70 to 100 rewrites before a poem is completed. Not out of perfection, but out of achieving the depth of emotion and that’s the healing aspect of our creative process. With every rewrite one gets closer and closer to fully purging that special feeling needing to come out in that poem and thus within our inner being. So yes, the rewrites are the fun part as well as the healing part because I’m learning so much about myself along the way.
What would you say has been your greatest success thus far?
My greatest success truly happens every day and that’s the ability to wake up and be thankful that I have a healthy mind and body. For several years, fluctuating between depression and mania while having mixed episodes, all I ever said was that I wanted true sanity and to feel joy. I prayed to God for that to happen one day and through a series of cosmic events, he made it happen. To not have your mental health means you do not have the ability to enjoy life, and enjoying life is the biggest success anyone can have.