Hi Reader, A film is a snapshot in time. When we first met this extraordinary young woman, it was eight years ago. Back then, she was Lilah James, an extraordinarily talented fashion and conceptual designer creating a bold, beautiful collection for her final project, "Anxiety Descending." Each look represented a different facet or symptom of her CPTSD diagnosis and she and her work are beautifully represented in our film about her, Recovery on the Runway | PTSD, Mental Health & Fashion. So...
11 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Melanie du Preez asks herself, in her beautiful new essay on our site, "How on Earth does a psychologist miss neurodiversity in themselves?" Indeed, Melanie lives with autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and has lived with it, and its sometimes extremely challenging symptoms, all her life but, as she also says, "turns out that masking is one hell of a drug." And that's the cold, hard truth about walking around every inexorable minute of every exhausting day while...
18 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, In the U.S., we don’t really want to talk about death, and we are certainly not great at dealing with grief. After a profound loss of a loved one, we are expected to get back to work, get back to “normal” after a couple of weeks. Americans are taught to get “over it,” rather than carry our loss with us, processing it and holding it in a place of honor. The Philly Goat Project Grief Walk is a unique invitation for people to come together, to be with other grievers (and goats in a...
25 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Come and walk a ways with the talented and sensitive writer Iram Ghafoor. Her lovely and unique essay, Barefoot Mornings – A Walk to Calm My ADHD Brain, is a quiet gift that will encourage you to look at walking, and perhaps other simple acts you may engage in daily life, in a new and thoughtful way. Her essay highlights a principle we believe in firmly here at Recovery Diaries; you never know what is going to work for you to help address your mental health challenge, and every...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Someone once turned to our guest, Coli Sylla, and said to him, “Keep that mental health crap to yourself.” Thankfully, that bullshit didn't fly.Award-winning screenwriter and director Coli Sylla talks about what happens when creativity, bipolar disorder, trauma, and ambition collide. While the entertainment industry has changed significantly over the last few decades, as Coli can attest there are parts of that world that still punish vulnerability, and encourage people with mental...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Alcohol is, in my opinion, treated with a banality and benignity, in our culture in particular, that it doesn't deserve. As Ben Roman shows in his essay, alcohol wreaked utter havoc on his life, threatening to destroy and take away everything, until a fateful night in his parent's kitchen; an intervention fueled by love, an invitation to rehab that was long overdue, and fortunately accepted. And so Ben's recovery began; it would take many months and help would come in varied forms,...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, It's hard to imagine what you'd do if you're a touring musician whose primary instrument is the guitar, and you start to lose the use of your hands. It may seem like an incongruous response, but Paul Curreri chose to stop drinking. And it wasn't exactly an intentional choosing of sobriety. It was more, "I'm not drinking today and I'm probably not going to drink tomorrow either." And that has turned a choice that he makes every single day. Like so many in the music industry, Paul...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, “Goats for the Greater Good” is Philly Goat Project’s mantra, and they live it fully. The non-profit features nature-based programs to enhance wellness for all. Goats are a way in to help people build themselves and strengthen communities. Says Philly Goat Project executive director and founder Karen Krivet, a licensed social worker, “We are a place of belonging. We are a place of connection, not just to the goats, but to each other.” One of their signature efforts is a grief walk...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, So much has been written about physical and sexual abuse, but comparatively little exists about neglect and its impact as the neglected child moves into adulthood. Amanda Gregory's fascinating and important essay explores many complicated themes and ideas; how neglect changes the brain and forever alters relationships, feelings, and actions, the importance of embracing what she calls "elective forgiveness" and what we do with our complicated feelings towards people who have harmed...
2 months ago • 1 min read