If falling = failing, rock climbing forced me to face failure over and over again. I lay on the mat – still dizzy from my fall, but otherwise unharmed – and thought to myself: “I have failed. What now?”

I’ve lived my entire life with a compulsive need to pull myself apart – literally. I have a rare condition called trichotillomania. In English terms, I pull my hair out.

When I was 13, it occurred to me that it was completely and terrifyingly possible for me to grab a knife and stab a random person if I wanted to, a thought I would obsess over for years.

Men are less likely to put up their hands and ask for help than women, and it’s affecting their mental and physical health.

Hearing other people’s stories gave me hope that the sting of my mom’s absence would ease. That’s why I decided to share my story.

The stigma surrounding mental illness is one of the leading reasons that people avoid seeking help, which is only made worse when leaders in society link mental illness to gun violence

As a venter, I learned that sometimes what helps lessen the burden is talking to someone who will listen completely when you admit, “I’m hurting. Can I tell you my story?”

Art therapy is the encouragement of free self-expression through different art mediums. In clinical practice, it has been used as a therapeutic tool to help with a variety of issues.

With the world getting darker earlier and the sky sending it’s evil little white things down to us, this is the most common time of the year for people to get sad. Seasonal Affective Disorder, abbreviated as SAD, is a type of depression that relates to the changes of the seasons.

Being self aware enough to recognize that you need help and then knowing how to ask for it is no simple feat, and at times it’s a necessary one.

Whether the stories are fantastical, realistic, silly, or dark, there’s a freedom that comes with allowing yourself to be engrossed in a fictional world. Sometimes we abuse this ability to avoid our own world.