My Future Mental Health Plans

I'm at a very exciting point in my career. In fact, I already have a career. I've been an educator for seven years and have a Master's in Education. But inspired by my experiences with bipolar disorder, I've decided to go back to graduate school for Social Work. I don't want to be a social worker per se. There are a few careers that do interest me though: a mental health care advocate, a group clinician, or an emergency room crisis worker.

I'm also hoping to turn this whole bipolar thing into a part-time or full-time gig. I'd love to be a bipolar spokesperson. I'm young, energetic, educated, and lucid. I want to be the person the news interviews when they're discussing bipolar disorder.

A college classmate suggested I write a children's book for children of color on mental health. The funny thing is that when I was in high school I thought about writing children's books. The idea of writing for young people still holds some interest for me. But not right now. I need to plan my time wisely. My big goal that I wanna focus my energy on is going back to graduate school in a year. I know it's going to be hard, teaching full-time and going to school part-time. It'll take me four years to finish the degree part-time.

I'm also interested in mental health policy. When I was in the hospital last year, I had a severe skin reaction to one of the medicines they gave me. It burned like a sun burn and peeled like one too. It was on my face. Don't you know I couldn't get a dermatologist to see me? They limit the number of consults you can have on the behavioral health unit. Last year in the hospital I planned on going before Congress to argue that not all cosmetic procedures should be elective, meaning insurance doesn't cover it. If you have a mental illness (even if you don't), physical beauty can seriously hamper your self-esteem. I've now had two skin reactions from psychiatric medications. The cystic acne flare-up made me feel like a freak. I had to have cortisone injections directly into my face to shrink the cysts; the injections were painful.

NAMI's (National Alliance on Mental Illness) has an advocacy page that gives you options of how to become involved politically. When I have more time I'm going to check it out.

I'm so glad that I've found a second passion in mental health (my first passion is education and teaching).