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My Most Important and Biggest SUCCESS Story of my LIFE:
I Suffered and Struggled for over 40 years with my Mental Health 25 years I Suffered in Silence and then during the next 15 years I worked on my Recovery but still Suffered and could not Get and STAY Mentally Well. And I went into 6 Psychiatric Hospitals, 4 Outpatient Clinics, Missed using Medicine, 22 ECT Treatments, Suicide Thoughts, and Suicide Attempt on Jan 2, 2008 and was still Suffering Unbelievably with my Mental Health which was Major Depression with a little Bipolar! Tried everything but could Not Get and STAY Mentally Well!
And then things got even worse because on Aug 8th, 2014, I will always remember that day is where Lewy Body Dementia and Suicide took Robin Williams Life! I was his biggest Fan and Robin was my Mentor regarding everything about Comedy, Improv, and all his amazing movies but for the next 2 and a half months because of what Robin Williams did I got so so Unbelievably Depressed and had to voluntarily go into my 6th and hopefully last Psychiatric Hospital on Oct 16, 2014.
But this time compared to all the other times I was an Inpatient at a Psychiatric Hospital something happened different where I had an Ah Ha Moment or Divine Intervention or whatever you want to call it that said this time I’m finally now going to Get and STAY Mentally Well! So while I’m in this Psychiatric Hospital for the next 13 days I was able to put together my own Workshop/Presentation called The 3 Amigos of Mental Health where the purpose is to share my own Mental Health Stories with my own Lived experiences in how I Suffered and Suffered in Silence for over 40 years but also tell my Inspirational, Motivational, Humorous, Relatable, and Helpful Mental Health Stories of how I Finally Got and STAYED Mentally Well right after I got discharged from my Psychiatric Hospital!
So, I finally found the right Psychiatrist, Therapist, and Medicine and kept working on my Important Recovery but is was the many types of Wellness Tools from my Wellness Toolbox and especially using HUMOR that got me to the Promised Land to Get and STAY Mentally Well! Like using Meditation, Deep Breathing Exercises, Affirmations, Creed, Prayer, GOD, Bible, Acupuncture, Nutrition, Good Sleep, Walks, A Pet, Mindfulness, and so much more! And I kept adding more and more to my own Workshop/Presentation called The 3 Amigos of Mental Health and started Speaking and Performing all over telling my my Struggles and Inspirational Mental Health stories by being an advocate and a Different type of RELATABLE Resource to Educate, Inspire, Motivate, Use Humor, and Help Everyone with their Important Mental Health and so much more! By getting Rid of this Terrible STIGMA of Mental Illness, Deal with Acceptance and Opening Up about your Mental Health, Addiction, Suicide Thought, or whatever else is going on with you, to use many of my own Wellness Tools, and of course to use HUMOR as one of your Biggest Wellness Tool to Get and STAY Mentally Well! Through The 3 Amigos of Mental Health I show and Tell that you can Get and STAY Mentally Well just like I finally did which is now over 8 years and Counting. And no matter what is going on with you you can have Fun without making Fun of your Mental Health or anything else. And most Important I’m working so hard to get Rid of this Terrible STIGMA of whatever is going on with you that we are All CREATED EQUAL and for the many who are Suffering and Suffering in Silence also Deserve to have a Quality of Life as well!
So, The 3 Amigos of Mental Health is either you are Suffering with your Mental Health, Suffering in Silence, or Not Suffering at all with your Mental Health and my job through Education, Awareness, and Lived Experiences is to Help the ones Suffering and Suffering in Silence and Educate the ones Not Suffering to understand what it feels like and taste like to Suffer so they can be more Helpful and Supportive to their friends and family that do Suffer with their Mental Health and more so that All The 3 Amigos of Mental Health can be Good Friends (AMIGOS)!
I also work for a Psychiatric Hospital I was a patient at for almost 6 years as a Trained and Certified Peer Support Specialist and Care Coordinator by building my own Mental Health Career in helping so many patients of mine!
What I’m doing now since I’m still Mentally Well for over 8 years is Speaking and Performing The 3 Amigos of Mental Health everywhere and getting paid through doing Seminars, Webinars, and Podcasts by telling my stories and making it very Enjoyable, Cool, Humorous, Relatable, and so much FUN to talk about Mental Health. I have done several Mental Health TV Stories and a Great GOALCAST Video where they made me the Star and working hard to get on more major TV Networks to Tell my Inspirational Mental Health Story and trying to finish The 3 Amigos of Mental Health Book and get a Documentary and of course a Movie about my own Mental Health Story so I can become Nationally and Worldly known so I can HELP Billions of people with their own Important Mental Health and so much more by using All of my Amazing PASSION in Giving VALUE to HELP Others!!
So, this is my Most Important SUCCESS Story that has changed my life for over 8 years and I’m still MENTALLY WELL and HELPING So many people with their Important Mental Health and so much more and if I can do it SO CAN YOU!!!!
THE 3 AMIGOS OF MENTAL HEALTH
BIP OLAR NO LONGER!!
Mrs STAYING ALIVE!! aka Michael Weitzman
Cell 914-523-5766
linkedin.com/in/michaelweitzman1
Educational, Motivational, Inspirational, Entertaining, Humorous, & MEMORABLE Maximum Impact Awareness Speaker Working on Touching and Helping Everyone Get and STAY Mentally Well!!
Our latest featured artist, April Angela Garcia, shares her story of mental health struggles over the years and how she uses art/creative work as an outlet to help manage her mental health symptoms.
“My name is April Angela Garcia. I Am 32 Years old from a small town in Texas. I have been diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder with severe psychosis, severe PTSD, generalized anxiety and bipolar disorder. I also suffered from addiction and suicidal/homicidal ideation. I have been in and out of counseling from elementary years into adulthood. It is very hard for me to hold a stable let alone any sort of relationship. I always felt that something had to be wrong with me. Nothing or anyone ever lasted in my life because something was always going wrong. Most recently another suicide attempt landed me into a mental hospital. And although the events leading to my hospitalization were traumatic, going to the mental hospital was indeed a blessing. I learned about the characteristics of my diagnoses, warning signs and the triggers. After being discharged I brought along those techniques home and use them for my everyday life when I have what I call “My Moments”. It’s not easy I still struggle but I’ve come to put all that pain, aggression into passion of art. I found drawing and writing to be an outlet for me. Also, I use it as a platform to bring awareness of mental health. It has also given me ideas as to how I can help my own community for those that suffer in silence as I had and not to be afraid to ask for help or education on their diagnosis that some places fail to.
I hope and pray that I reach hearts today and give courage to those in the darkness to come to the Light and we come together as a family. As a Soul tribe with the goal of bringing awareness to the world of mental health problems and to break the stigma associated with these diagnoses.”
See below for more information
The Art School of Columbia County with director, Nancy Rogers, and artist/teacher, Tim Ebneth.
Even though, as a child, LisaDiana was happy, witty, creative and compassionate, she spent the last thirty years of her life suffering daily from undiagnosed co-morbid mental illnesses. Despite many hospital stays, psychiatrists’ visits, therapists’ visits, medications and treatment plans, the medical community never pinpointed what her brain chemistry issues were or created a treatment plan that alleviated her mental anguish.
It wasn’t until her life and health fell apart after an intensely traumatic two and a half years, did LisaDiana give up trying to live, let alone be a productive member of society. She retreated to her bed and hoped every night she’d never wake up while her family tried to find one more psychiatrist to treat her.
After being evaluated by a new psychiatrist, LisaDiana underwent a relatively new medical treatment and attended therapy sessions with a therapist trained in that treatment. After two months of treatment, LisaDiana began to recognize a positive change in her mental state and that was all she needed to summon up the remaining bits of resolve and determination to get better.
During months of treatment, therapy, cognitive re-training and medicine trials/titrations, LisaDiana revisited old hobbies that used to give her joy. Her two favorites were creating art and playing the flute. She was tentative, at first, because she couldn’t sight read and had no formal art education. But, one day, LisaDiana took out her simple art supplies and began to draw geometric shapes inside a large circle. Time passed in the blink of an eye and hours later, LisaDiana had drawn a Mandala.
Never having had self confidence, LisaDiana actually smiled as she gazed upon her drawing because she was filled with a sense of accomplishment and pride. She also noticed that, while engaged in the art creation process, her mind was calm yet focused. Her body was relaxed and her mood was light. This experience also gave her the courage to pick up her flute, after twenty years, and attempt to play a piece that she had played in high school. She noticed she experienced the same positive psychological and physical effects as when she was drawing.
After a few weeks of greatly enjoying art and music making, LisaDiana gathered the courage to submit four art pieces and a flute recording to an upcoming gallery exhibit. To her delight, all were accepted which just motivated her to continue to create and play.
When LisaDiana shared her experiences with her new psychiatrist, after exuberant congratulations, the doctor said something that LisaDiana reminds herself daily— “Art is Spirit”. It was then that LisaDiana realized in order to be in active recovery from her mental illnesses, brain chemistry, cognitive strategies, physical health and Spirit need to be treated simultaneously. LisaDiana continues to tend to her Spirit through the Arts.
