Acknowledging Progress & Bravery
Exactly one year ago from this moment, I was lying in a bed in a new-to-me apartment in Houston, Texas, feeling nervous and not sure if I would be able to sleep. My parents had dropped me off that day with my luggage. I was there for treatment in a community reintegration program, and we could not know how long I would be there. I can tell you now, of course: nearly nine months. My treatment involved hours and hours of therapy every week--mostly group sessions with fellow clients in the program, but also individual appointments, too. I had a team of that worked with me, including a Primary Clinician, Individual Therapist, Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist, Dietitian, Music Therapist, and my Neuropsychiatrist. All of this treatment over the nine months I was in the program followed the ten-week-long inpatient stay I had at the beginning of 2020 (right before the pandemic began) where I learned that I had been misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder for about seven years and that I actu