Who is "RecoveringNancy"?
When I first fell down the rabbit hole of mental health supports in Toronto, I was scared, in distress and entering a world I knew nothing about. It took me a long time to realize that the distress I was feeling was more than I could handle using the coping strategies I had developed for myself - and that in many ways those coping strategies were NOT making things better.
I was lucky enough that I had access to a starting point (though my then-current employer and some connections from a previous employment relationship) so I was able to access a psychiatrist in what I now realize was an amazingly short time frame (within 2 weeks). And who, even more rare in this day and age, believed in more supports than simply pushing pills!
Thus began a long journey that would take over 20 years. What I realized looking back, was that my journey was actually made harder by the silence around mental health distress, AND by the lack of awareness of resources - especially non-clinical resources that exist.
I would NEVER have believed that I would walk away from a lucrative career as a consulting actuary (sort of a technical cross between a lawyer and an accountant, with a bunch of business strategy thrown in the mix) to eventually take a part time position as a peer supporter - or peer recovery facilitator - within a hospital setting. OR that I would find myself doing a lot of unpaid work trying to bridge the gaps that the system somehow can't deal with. I have now left the hospital setting and am eagerly - and mindfully - planning my next steps.
I was lucky enough that I had access to a starting point (though my then-current employer and some connections from a previous employment relationship) so I was able to access a psychiatrist in what I now realize was an amazingly short time frame (within 2 weeks). And who, even more rare in this day and age, believed in more supports than simply pushing pills!
Thus began a long journey that would take over 20 years. What I realized looking back, was that my journey was actually made harder by the silence around mental health distress, AND by the lack of awareness of resources - especially non-clinical resources that exist.
I would NEVER have believed that I would walk away from a lucrative career as a consulting actuary (sort of a technical cross between a lawyer and an accountant, with a bunch of business strategy thrown in the mix) to eventually take a part time position as a peer supporter - or peer recovery facilitator - within a hospital setting. OR that I would find myself doing a lot of unpaid work trying to bridge the gaps that the system somehow can't deal with. I have now left the hospital setting and am eagerly - and mindfully - planning my next steps.
