“People cannot read your mind and they can’t start to help you until you ask.”

Share your stigma experience.

In High School, my boyfriend died in a car accident. The next day I went to school with the teddy bear he gave me, and was called over dramatic for the next 4 years. I already had PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) from previous experiences and nobody knew how I felt. Nobody had to sit in school thinking the things I did, and nobody understood, or cared to understand.

How did you overcome this experience?

When I graduated High School I went to college for Human Services. I did an internship as a counselor and learned a lot of techniques to handle my PTSD and still live a normal everyday life.

I never talked to anybody in HS about my PTSD, I always assumed nobody cared. Once I was an adult, I realized what I did wrong. I was the one who needed to open up, I needed to be the one to go talk to somebody.

Help others by sharing a brief, positive message.

People cannot read your mind and they can’t start to help you until you ask. The worst that could happen is now they know why you are the way you are. If they don’t like it, they don’t need to be in your life!