August 11, 2014 

Some thoughts on a Friday morning, as I am watching the news and reading posts on LinkedIn, Facebook and mental health groups about Robin William's suicide:

First of all, I am deeply saddened by Robin Williams' passing.  I knew him personally, and I saw a side of him that the public may not have seen.  He was a caring, humble, and giving human being, in addition to being a talented actor and comedian.  

That said, the silver lining of this tragedy is that it sparked nationwide conversations about depression, addiction, and mental illness in general.  I may not agree with everyone's viewpoints, and people are fighting each other on message boards, but at least we are talking about it.  There is more awareness that depression is real, it is a medical condition, and that no one is immune.

My wish is that one day mental illness will be a topic that people are familiar with and have knowledge about, that one day people won't be embarrassed to go to therapy or work with a psychiatrist, and that everyone who needs help will have access to it.  I hope that more people will learn that there are 12 step programs for addictions, and that they provide hope and solutions, free of charge. I wish that more people learn that there are many resources in our communities to address any type of mental illness, and a lot of them are free of charge for those who need them.

I hope that we can learn about mental illness not because of someone's struggles but due to someone's recovery.  I would like to see more public figures, as well as the rest of us, come out and say, "I am a person who survived suicidal depression/eating disorder/addiction. I am a person in long term recovery. This is how I did it".  Typically, we hear of mental illness when someone commits suicide or hurts themselves or others in some way.  We need to change the language around mental illness from problems caused by it to stories of resilience, survival, recovery, and hope.

I think we are heading in that direction in this country.  It will be a long road, and I can't control how quickly our society makes progress.  What I can say is that I am personally committed to taking action towards awareness and positive change.