The first time I was exposed to a counsellor or social worker was when I was 16 and in the hospital recovering from a very serious car accident. It was a head on collision on the highway and resulted in the passing of two individuals. While recovering in the hospital with a myriad of injuries, I developed a blood clot and pneumonia. That was the...

Perhaps my story is a little different from the rest perhaps that is why I didn’t consider it valid or relevant for most of my life. However I am human, i experience, I feel, I hurt, and self-awareness has been a pathway towards healing for me. Mental illness does not always start with a doctor, a diagnosis, and medication.

Here’s a quick little story that really sheds some light on my childhood. I was born with a cleft palate and underwent my first plastic surgery at eight months old. I guess I’ll never be able to say I haven’t “gone under the knife.” I didn't really have much of a choice, I was a baby. For the next 18 years my jaw is all I saw when I looked in the mirror.

I never knew what this dark feeling was. I was 15, and it was difficult to describe to anyone who had not felt it before. This feeling of feeling no emotions, I was numb. I didn’t know that feeling this way for such a long period of time was not okay.