Oakland, CA — I’ve been seeing a therapist for almost a year now, and I’m not afraid to admit it. Part of my healing has come from being open.
Sophomore year was tough for me. Depression impacted my life. Getting up every morning felt like an impossible task. I cried every day, and didn’t want to go to school. It became too much to handle so I told my parents. They were very supportive and I started therapy right away.
It took a couple of months to see the results, but when I did—as cheesy as it sounds—I started to love myself more.
Still, I dealt with depression privately. I kept my therapy sessions to myself to avoid judgments from my friends. I didn’t want to face the stigma surrounding mental health.
But one day, I got the courage to tell my friends and to my surprise they were very supportive. Once I opened up, my friends felt free to share their own struggles with mental health. I feel validated. I’m not the only one that’s going through this.
By talking with each other we’ve created a deeper trust between us and a support system that wasn’t there before.