Denita Stevens from This Is My Brave Philadelphia shares her personal essay entitled "Promises"

Denita Stevens shares her personal essay - Promises in our Philadelphia This Is My Brave Show.

Promises

"...I went back to doing research about mental health like I had started doing when I was 16 and first knew something was wrong with me after I had been raped by a stranger. I completely stopped taking the high doses of anti-psychotics, Xanax and sleeping pills all at once, which I shouldn't have done. Withdrawals were hell, but I knew what I had been doing wasn't working and I wasn't going back to merely existing.
After working with yet another therapist who seemed to be more entertained than concerned by what I told her, I knew I had to break up with her. Finding a good therapist is a lot like dating and she just wasn't the one for me. While I wanted to stay at home and wallow in my disappointment, I was done being miserable and having no hope. I finally found a reason to live and I refused to give up.
So I attended a NAMI meeting in Waco, TX for the first and only time, which is where I met the therapist who helped save my life. I mentioned to her that I was looking for someone who was trained in a therapy technique that reprocessed trauma and had shown great promise for PTSD. To my surprise, she had recently went through the training and gave me her contact information so that we could set up a consultation. We started meeting twice a week.
Unfortunately, I experienced a serious setback in the second year when I was assaulted and nearly raped by a stranger, but with the help of my therapist I was able to work through that as well, which included prosecuting my attacker. Unlike the first time it happened when I was 16. I fought back and immediately talked about it. I started to heal and recover..."

This Is My Brave, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit organization (thisismybrave.org/) is the leading platform for individuals to share their stories of living successful lives despite a diagnosis of a mental health disorder through artistic expression (spoken word poetry, original music and essay readings) on stage in front of a live audience. We're opening up the conversation about mental health disorders in communities all across the country and beyond via our YouTube channel.

We're shining a light on mental illness because it has been in the dark too long. We're ending mental illness stigma, one story at a time.

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June 10, 2018
The Painted Bride Art Center
Produced by Bill Holmes and Elise Seyfried
Local sponsor: Rogers Behavioral Healthcare (rogersbh.org/)
Videography by: Bill Mackanic of Mackanic Media (mackanicmedia.com/)

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