Community Stories are videos where we ask men and women to discuss their lived experiences with mental illnesses. The experiences shared in these stories provide hope, validation, insight, a relate-able experience - and at moments laughter. We also ask a few questions at the end to better address specific themes. You can also access the content via our video channel on YouTube. Enjoy!
CW shares his story and talks about how implementing a WRAP plan was really helpful in working with his mental health challenges. He talks about his interest in VR (Virtual Reality) and living life to it's fullest. He has thought of ending his pain and worked himself out of homelessness.
Ellen, a working professional, discusses LGBTQ+ more dialogue on panic attacks and depression.
Izzy discusses Mental Health, including ECT, motherhood, and treatment in different countries.
We hear from a SF man about 12 Step, Mental Health, and more. As a working professional, he provides great insight into building and evolving a point of view on his own challenges.
Jules works at MHASF, and discusses his lived experiences which include LGBTQ, Homelessness, PTSD, and more. He also discusses what works for him to stay healthy and well.
We talk with Kim about her Mental Health experiences. This includes homelessness, schizo-effective disorder, and family.
We talk with Lisa-Sun about Mental Health, Drama Therapy, PTSD, and therapy dogs; among other things.
Nina talks to us about her experiences with Therapy, PTSD, Domestic Violence, and more. She also shares what she does to stay healthy and where she is now.
Meaghan of MHASF discusses mental health, her emotional support dog, depression, anxiety, stigma, and grounding exercises.
Project Access is starting a 'working professionals' series where we will focus on the lives and stories of working professionals. To start, we have selected a few stories that are already online to share here:
We don't necessarily agree with all of the views of the individuals on this page. They have been selected because they have something to offer to the Mental Health community. If you have a mental health challenge, you know you won't agree with everyone who has a mental health challenge. You also won't agree with everyone else who also has green eyes, or who also plays soccer, or who also likes Harry Potter, or who also went to your university......well, you get it.
Jeff Hammerbacher (lived experience with BiPolar) is a data expert who started the data science team at Facebook. He then founded his own company Cloudera. He has been financially successful by all measures. He shares his story of BiPolar disorder in the video, and shares some great facts and data about mental health. He shares the scale of mental health challenges with the following data points "Global Burden of Disease: 1) 41% infectious and parasitic diseases 2) 26% cardio vascular diseases 3) 21% neuropsychiatric conditions".
David Crepaz-Keay (lived experience with Schizophrenia) is an Economist. This video is mostly focused on data and mental health. David jokes "The time I spent as a psychiatric patient was just preparing me for the stigma associated with being an Economist".
Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison (lived experience with Manic Depression) is a Clinical Psychologist and Author who has been through episodes of mania and psychosis a number of times in her life. She writes eloquently on the subject and is highly successful in both her fields. The video expresses some of the stories and information in her book. Her books are well worth reading.
Michelle Hammer (lived experience with Schizophrenia) is an Artists and Founder. She started her own clothing line around mental health. She has a number of videos with her story posted on her website. Her clothing line's tag line is a cheeky "Don't be Paranoid. You look great".
Professor James T.R. Jones (lived experience with Schizophrenia) is a Lawyer and an accomplished professor at the Louis D. Brandies School of Law. In his video he quotes an interesting statistic about the prevalence of mental health challenges "2x times as many people live with Schizophrenia as live with HIV/AIDS". He also discusses the devastating effect stigma has had on the lives of high achieving students.
Mara Wilson (lived experience with OCD, Anxiety, and Depression) is a successful writer, performer, and story teller. In the video, she shares her story and walks you through a very helpful breathing exercise.
Matt Berriman (lived experience with BiPolar) is a founder, investor, and adviser. He is a former cricketer who resigned his position as a CEO publicly by writing the letter (linked above) about his mental health. Matt doesn't currently have a video, but we are hoping to reach out to him soon to ask if he will share his story further. "I’m still struggling to return to my optimal holistic health, and as a result I now need to put a larger commitment in place to con-currently prioritise my health with my commitment to Unlockd. Effective immediately I will be stepping aside as CEO of Unlockd" (FEB 2018).