Rebecca Black, MHPS

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My journey to where I am today has been anything but linear. Raging and misunderstood for the first twelve years of my life, to being institutionalized for the next six, I know what it's like to feel...different. Different from your peers. Different from what you should be accomplishing. Different than what you know you could be accomplishing.  

For the majority of my life, I was convinced it would stay the way it was - bad, depressing, in and out of programs, constantly suicidal and self-harming, etc. Getting into a top university changed all of that. I was determined, recharged, motivated, happy, and life was manageable - until I burned myself out and slid into the deepest, darkest depression I've ever experienced. Now, in the time since I fell, I'm learning to take things slowly. To meet all of my goals and accomplish what I want without sacrificing myself. And it's hard. It's a work in progress, and I fail more than I'd like to admit. I also get back up every time.

One of the most important developments in psychology over the past decade, in my opinion, is how much we've learned about trauma - what it is, what it is not, how it affects people, how it affects people differently, and more. However, we still have so much to learn. 

Over the years, my mind has wandered back to this idea of an organization that does everything in its power to intervene early and keep kids at home and in their communities. Throughout the past three or so years, the effects of long-term, out-of-home "treatment" programs have come out, detailing horrific abuses and deaths. Research has also come to show that intensive, home-based care focusing on strengths and creating supports has better outcomes and is more cost-effective. What better way to meet the evergrowing mental health needs of a population living in such turmoil than an organization dedicated to keeping kids at home through in-home support created by someone who's been through it? So out came SPRINGyouth. Or Support to Prosper and Reduce Institutionalization for Next Gen Youth, but that's a mouthful, and I forget the prepositions all the time.

Here, today, with me, let's stay home. Let's create a life worth living, accomplish all those things you're more than capable of, and become the best person you can be. 

Nothing changes if nothing changes, and you deserve the world.