Ignorance does not create bliss. I had been through probably 30 boxes of tissues and missed more than that in school days. It wasn’t working and my parents knew it. A program is no fun and both my parents and I knew it. But fun wasn’t the point, the point was my health. The residents weren’t freaks and neither am I. The assumptions I made using terms like “emo” and “goth” were far from real. I learned more than how to cope. I learned just how hard people have it and just how many of us there are around you. To this day that program is in my heart and the 18 months I spent there was life changing. I might be your classmate, your teammate, your friend. Would you ever know? What’s kept inside can kill and what’s on the exterior can lie. “I’m depressed” is no longer a saying to take lightly. Suicide, severe depression, and other emotional health problems are on the rise. I’ve lived it and still do; I am 15, and I have a severe anxiety disorder and depression. I write because I care. No 13-year-old should have to live away from home, no life should end in pain, and no teenager should be harmed for who they are.
How far would you go to escape an awful life? As far as people go to make a life awful? We may not be capable of medically ending emotional health issues, but we can with moral support. I try to live my life with no regrets and think what didn’t kill me made me stronger. But with friends by my side it may have been different. With support and understanding I may have been okay. Now I have support and have been living at home for over a year thanks to my accepting family, understanding friends, and supportive therapist.