Here is Sara's story...

 

Sara was raised in a rural town in Northern California. Her childhood was rocky at best, filled with rampant mental illness, poverty, and abuse. Growing up, her mother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and her father had antisocial personality disorder. Sara was pretty much the parent of her family, trying to hold everything and everyone together. She was physically abused daily, emotionally abused her whole childhood, and sexually abused by her father from around the age of 5 until about age 13. At about that age, Sara was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. Since then, she’s learned how to cope with her obsessive-compulsive tendencies by practicing extinction techniques (not allowing herself to wash her hands or compulsively check doors when she had anxious urges). She still has a hard time with anxiety and the trauma of her childhood, which has led into a diagnosis of major depression.

 

Sara is now in her mid-twenties and has to deal with the stigma of having a mental health diagnosis every day. Usually when someone hears what Sara has been through, there is this sense that she is messed up and she often feels like she is avoided because of it. It's been hard for Sara to make friends and hard for her to talk to others about her past. It seems that others don't know what to say, so they just don't say anything at all. She has been labeled as a "foster child", described as "the depressed one", heard things like "Sara is just anxious all the time", or even things like "Sara's family is so messed up... you don't want to get involved." Yet, Sara is a courageous survivor, who would love to share her story in order to encourage others going through or who have been through similar situations. Sara wants others to know there is hope for recovery. She wants to help reduce the stigma surrounding those who have depression, anxiety, or have been sexually abused. She is now dedicating her life to becoming a marriage and family therapist in order to help reduce mental health stigma and help those in need.