Cindy
Well I was diagnosed four years ago with clinical depression, severe recurrent, and I entered AID and I went through their psychosocial rehabilitation and it really helped me a lot. And then when I felt I was ready I went to talk Cheryl about working on the crisis line. I started out by volunteering and then I became a paid staff member. So I feel like I’ve come a long way since when I first entered AID. When I walk into the crisis line I put my stuff aside and I am able just to focus on the clients that call in. and having a job makes me feel more productive. Cheryl is my boss and I can go to her with anything. I have gone to her for referral services and I talk to her when I’m done with my shift when I’ve had a particularly difficult call, I am able to call her and talk to her and kind of debrief myself.

Say it out loud means not holding your mental health diseases. Say it out loud so other people know and I do know from experience that a couple people I talked to never had mental health and were having real issues with having a  disease. So Say it out loud means maybe someone else can get extra help that they wouldn’t have ordinarily done.